Sword Art Online, surviving the Death Game
by DUTCHUBERPOWER
Summary: along with the 10000 other players, Exia is trapped in the Death Game of Sword Art Online. This story is about his survival and his fight to freedom.
1. Chapter 1

This is my fanfic of the anime/manga i really like, Sword Art Online. For the once that arent familiar with it, simply put, its about 10000 players that get stuck inside the game Sword art Online and the only way out is to beat all 100 floors of its castle Aincrad. They have to fight for ther lives, because dying inside the game, will mean death in real live too.

This is the first story i have written and to make it extra diffecult for myself, i chose to do it in English. I'm from the Netherlands and recently started to pick up English again because i noticed it was falling behind. Thats why i hope people wont be to hard of something being spelled wrong. Dont get me wrong, please do say it, it will only improve my english writting and thats one of my goals.

I hope you will enjoy this fanfiction and i'm looking forward to hear your reviews. If you have a question, feel free to PM me and i will respond to it.

Have Fun

**Prologue**

With a last cry it explodes with the sound almost the same as breaking glass into an infinite amount of polygons and disappears completely. With a smile I swing the heavy black one-handed long sword towards my back and into its scabbard.

"….glad that is over"

There was no one close to listen, but I just spoke while I slid slowly down with my back against the wall of this dungeon. After I got back my breath and got the rate of my hart down again I slowly moved my eyes toward the upper left of my vision were my health bar was located. I didn't think I had taken that much damage but the monster had taken down almost 50% of my health.

"This is what you get with being sloppy and let your mind wonder of in the middle of a fight… "

Thinking about it I can't remember what causes it that I had to think about that day. That day exactly 1 year ago when my life and that of 10000 others changed forever.

**Chapter 1**

"Please calm down "

My little brother looked at me after saying that. I think he must be getting annoyed that I was this exited over something he didn't care about.

"I'm sorry bro, I can't. Only one hour remaining intill the server goes online and I can log in and play that game. "

Ever since I had won that quiz and had the luck to play that game for 1 day at the office of Argus who had made that game I was in love with it. Back then it was still during the beta testing but no is the time to play it for real!

What more lucky was for me is that I even had the chance to meet Kayaba Akihiko that day. Because he was impressed how quickly I learnt that game and seeing how much I loved it, he gave me an amazing gift: a pack with a Nerve Gear as well as a copy of that game Sword Art Online!

After I got home that day my little brother looked surprised to what I had. He was only 2 years younger than me, 14 years old, but he never had any interest in gaming so he didn't know what a Nerve Gear was. After I told him that it was a gear that instead of looking at a screen monitor, it was a streamlined interface that covered your whole head and face that was filled with numerous signal transceivers. That way it could send signals directly into your brain and make you Fulldive into the virtual Reality. That way instead of controlling a avatar, you will become the avatar and play as it.

"I still don't get why you are so excited about it…" he said.

"In my room is the Nerve Gear and the game I had bought before I got it as a gift. Why don't you try it later today and see for yourself what it's like? "I asked.

"Maybe I will, what will be your character's name be? That way I can look you up if I like it and you can explain it to me."

"Look for Exia, I think I will use that one but I'm not sure yet. Any idea what yours will be?"

"I don't know yet, I will look you up after I made up one. That is the easy way I think"

Looking at his face I couldn't help to laugh. Knowing him he will come with a funny name as usual.

After we talked about it a little more and finished eating we both went to or rooms and I got ready to dive into the game the minute it comes online. Strapping on the Nerve Gear and got on my bed. When the time hit 1 PM I said the command to activate it: "Link Start!"

After opening my eyes I saw the world I couldn't wait to return to. After an hour waiting at the starting point to see if he had decided to log in, I gave up on the idea and went to the fields outside of the starting city to train a little and to check I still remembered how to play.

After a couple of hours I took a break and looked around me. The sun was already setting so it should be evening by now. While looking around me, I was thinking about the game.

The game was being played in a placed called Aincrad. It was a castle, floating in the skies. It was a castle that had 100 floors and every floor had only 1 way to get up to the next floor. A dungeon with a boss at the end of it. After defeating the boss and went to the city, the transport gate will be activated and everyone can freely move to the next floor and get closer to the ultimate goal of this game, being the one that defeats the boss of the highest floor and win the game.

At that moment, the sound of a bell in the distends got my attention. Immediately after it a blue light covered my whole body. Past the blue light, the plains in my vision blurred steadily.

I had no idea that right after that, my life would change forever.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **for the people familiar with the show/manga this chapter can become a little boring. Its about the "Openings Ceramony" on the first day on the game. If you chose it, you can skip to the last couple of lines since it's almost the same as the original to follow the original story. but reading it can give you a better understanding of the charactar.

Have Fun

**Chapter 2**

The moment my vision returned, I noticed that I was standing on stone instead of the grass a moment ago. I started to look around and I noticed I was back in starting city and I wasn't the only one here. After taking a second look my guess would be that all the players logged on are here.

"Please tell me I can log out now.."

I looked to my left to see who have said that and I noticed a girl standing there.

"Sorry, but what do you mean? Can't you log out?" I asked.

"Wait, can you log out?"

"I haven't tried it but let me check" I said while moving my right index finger from up to down to call the Menu.

"Let me see. It should be here in the bottom right?"

I was searching but I couldn't find it anywhere. A weird feeling ran down my spine as I noticed there was no button to log out. The girl saw it on my face.

"Everyone I spoke to said the same thing. There is no log out button in the system window. They think it must be some kind of bug but it's already a couple of hours ago when people noticed it. They have tried to contact GM's but there not responding." She said.

As I looked at her I couldn't believe what she was saying. I tried to come up with reasons why they hadn't responded to it but I couldn't think of one. The moment I wanted to say something I heard a voice from in front of me.

"Ah… Look up!"

After I looked up I noticed that 100 meters above me, the bottom of the second floor was checkered in red. When I looked closely I noticed the words [ Warning } and [ System Announcement ] in a crisscrossing pattern.

"Can't we log out because there has not been an opening ceremony? Or is this the operator who will tell us what is going on here?" I couldn't shake the bad feeling while I thought about this.

After the all sounds died down in the plaza something happened. From the middle of the pattern something came down. It almost looked like blood dripping down from it. But it didn't fall down on the ground. Instead it was pulling together and started turning into a shape.

It turned into a hooded robe around 20 meter tall. From where I was standing I could look into the hood and I was shocked for a moment. The figure appearing for us had no face!

Something gave me the idea I have seen that robe before but I couldn't find out from where. My thought were running wild to understand what was going on. Didn't they had time to prepare an avatar and used this instead?

That moment it hit me. The reason that robe looked familiar to me is because the GM that was with me on the day I was allowed to test this game had worn it. And all the other GMs I met had also warn that robe! Was this a GM?

That moment the huge robe lifted his right sleeve and a pure white glove appeared from the long sleeve. And his left after that. Then a low, calm, male voice was coming from inside the hood.

"Players, I welcome you to my world"

His world? I couldn't understand it. I thought this while the huge red robe lowered his hands and continued talking.

"My name is Kayaba Akihiko. Right now, I am the only person who can control this world."

Him?! A new shock hit my body and I forced my mind to focus again in the hope I would understand it.

"I think most of you have discovered the fact that the Log Out button has disappeared from the main menu. This is not a bug; it is all part of Sword Art Online's system."

Part of the system? My mind was going crazy but he didn't wait for me to figure out as he continued.

"Until you get to the top of this castle, you cannot log out of your own free will."

What? Top of this castle? I couldn't understand it but then he blew my confusion away.

"… also, the disruption or dismantling of the Nerve Gear from the outside is strictly forbidden. If these things are attempted…"

He paused for a second and the silence off the thousands of players in the plaza was overwhelming.

"The signal sensors in your Nerve Gear will emit a strong electromagnetic pulse, destroying your brain and stopping all of your basic functions."

For a moment I could do nothing then standing there in shock. Was he serious? Destroying our brains, or in other words kill us.

I started to think about it. They call the Nerve Gear the newest ultra-technology. With its countless signal transceivers that emitted small electronic pulses to send virtual signals to our brain. The basic theory is the same as a household appliance used for over 40 years- the microwave.

He must be bluffing I thought. Because what will happen if there is a power outage or because of a router problem the connection is lost?

That moment Kayaba started explaining, almost as if he had read my mind.

"To be a little more specific, disconnection from an outside source of electricity for 10 minutes, being cut off from the system for more than two hours, or any attempt to: unlock, dismantle, or destroy the Nerve Gear. If any of these conditions are met, the brain destruction sequence will start. These conditions have been made known to the government and the public through mass-media in the outside world. On that note, there have been several cases where the relatives or friends have ignored the warnings and tried to forcefully remove the Nerve Gear. The Result…"

Kayaba took a short breath

"… regretfully 213 players have already exited this game, and the real world, forever."

I couldn't believe it. Over 200 players have already died? He must be kidding! My body started shaking as I tried to stay on me feet. Still trying to calm myself down, Kayaba continued his explanation.

"Players, there is no need to worry about the bodies you left on the other side. As of this moment, all TV, radio and Internet media are repeatedly reporting this situation; including the fact that there have been numerous deaths. The danger of having your Nerve Gear taken off has already all but disappeared. In a moment, using the two hours I have provided, all of you will be transported to hospitals or similar institutes and be given the best treatment. So you can relax… and concentrate on beating the game."

Beat the game? Does he really think anybody will do that now? A boy a little in front of me started shouting toward Kayaba. But I was too shocked to hear what he was shouting.

But it didn't stopped Kayaba as he quietly starting announcing with his low low voice again.

"But I ask of you is to understand that Sword Art Online is no longer a simple game. It is a second reality…. From now on, any form of revival in the game will no longer work. The moment your HP reaches 0, your avatar will be gone forever. And at the same time…"

I knew already what was coming next.

"… Your brain will be destroyed by the Nerve Gear"

I focused on the green line, horizontal in the top-left of my vision. That line was the HP I had. Every point that it drops will get me closer to death. And the moment it reaches 0, my brain will be destroyed by this game. This game of death.

Should I stay in the city? Where it is safe? Or would I take the gamble and go to the hunting fields and risk to die? Kayaba answered my unspoken questions with his next message.

"Players, there is only one way to be freed from this game. As I have said before, you must get to the top of Aincrad, the one hundredth floor, and defeat the final boss that resides there. All players still alive at that time will be immediately logged out of the game. I give you all my word."

Clear all 100 floors?! How does he want us to do that? Looking around me, I saw a lot of players, but how many of them will be too scared to leave the city? And how many will die on the way up there?

Even if I have to do it alone, I will try to beat this game. I have to, I can't leave my family in the pain they are now. I repeated that over and over, hoping to get strength from it.

Kayaba's voice once again, broke my concentration and I focused on him again.

"Then I will show you evidence that this is the only reality. In your inventories, there will be a gift from me. Please confirm this."

As I opened the menu and looked into my list I noticed an item named: Hand Mirror. I pressed it and a small mirror appeared in my hand. As I looked into it I noticed nothing and looked to the girl next to me to see if she had the same thing.

Still with my eyes looked at that girl, a white light surrounded me. As it was surrounding me, I saw that it happened to all the players around me.

Almost 3 seconds later, the light disappeared as nothing had happened. I looked to my left and the girl that had been there a moment ago was gone and a different girl was standing there. As I looked around me I noticed that all players looked different. Do I look different to?

As I looked in the mirror I calmed down to see my own face. As I lifted my face something hit me. I wasn't at home, I was in the game. That means I should see my avatar and not my own face! As I looked again I realized what had happened.

When you first use your Nerve Gear, you have to calibrate it. Because I had to do it with the Nerve gear I got from Kayaba that day, I remembered it. But how about the face? Was it because it covered or whole face it knew how we look like?

This time I was waiting for him to continue and he didn't let me down.

"You will all most probably be wondering, 'why.' Why am I – the creator of both the Nerve Gear and SAO, Kayaba Akihiko – doing something like this? Is this a sort of terrorist attack? Is he doing this to ransom us?"

I was waiting to hear the answer.

"None of these is the reason I am doing this. Not only that, but now for me, there is no longer a reason or a purpose in doing this. The reason is because… this situation itself was my purpose in doing this. To create and watch this world is the only reason I have created the Nerve gear and SAO. And now, everything has been realized."

After a short break, he spoke again.

"… Now I have finished the official tutorial for Sword Art Online. Players – I wish you luck."

With his last words, the robe became blood again and went upwards to the place it came down from. It disappeared between the cracks of the system warning in the sky above us. With him, the system warning in the sky left with him, returning the sky to its original state.

After a moment of silence the crowd of all players left in the game gave a reaction. Countless voice could be heard screaming. Some were angry, some were scared.

I wasn't one of them, I cleared my mind and was thinking of what to do next. That moment I saw a black haired and a red haired player walking away from the plaza. I decided to follow them. Maybe with their help, I can learn how to survive this Death Game.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

On my way out of the plaza I saw the player with red hair walking back towards the plaza. I kept on running and when I left the city I saw the black haired boy in the distends. I tried to keep up with him but every time I got closer, a monster would span and set me back again.

After seeing how he defeated monsters I knew he was a beta tester. There was no other way that he knew so much about moving in this game without being in the beta test. I knew them because I had 1 day in it myself. But seeing how fast he was going and never seem to get lost on the paths ahead of us, he must have the full 2 month of experiences. I knew I would only slow him down and the reason he ran when before anyone else must have been to avoid that. But if I have the chance to talk to him, maybe he would give me some tips and tricks so we could help each other if one of us needed it.

After I saw him except a quest I took it also. The reward was a sword and I knew the starting sword wouldn't be strong enough to keep protecting me. I saw him in the distant walking with another player. I haven't seen another player then him and me this far so I was wandering how he got here this fast.

On my way back to finish the quest I saw a sword, standing in the ground with the flower needed for the quest on top of it and couldn't help myself to think who had died. And why so soon? If both of them had been here this fast, shouldn't they both had been in the beta test? And if they were, they should both been incredibly strong and skilled enough to finish a quest like this alive like I did.

Still thinking about that I arrived back in the town and walked towards the NPC to finishes the quest and take the new sword. I hoped it was a strong one-handed sword because during that one day of testing, I had tried a lot of different swords and found out that the one-handed type was the one that fit me. The moment I wanted to open the door, the boy that I was following walked outside. He looked sad so I didn't say anything. I could only nod at him and think about the sword I saw in the forest.

A week after that I finally met him in person. We met in the dungeon, both leveling up. Well met, we saved each other from monsters that were trying to hit us in our backs. I saw him struggling and I decided to help. After I saved him, a second monster attacked me and he returned the favor. After that we both took a rest.

"That was close… Thanks for saving me." I said to him.

"Well, thank you too. You saved me first so I had to return the favor."

"Still, if you didn't reacted, I would been dead now. But I'm glad it didn't came to that. I'm Exia."

"I'm Kirito, and I am also glad we both made it out of there."

We shook hands and smiled to each other.

"I have to admit something, ever sins the day this started, I have been following you. Thanks to you I have this sword on my back. After seeing you I knew you had experience and knew how to survive this world. You have learned this in the beta test right?"

He looked at me with an expression I couldn't describe. Was he angry because I followed him or scared that I founded it out that he was in the beta test?

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to make a party here or make you do something you don't want too. I saw you running of on your own so my guess is you don't want to be in a party and I think that's because you were in the beta test and most players will hold you down. I just hoped to learn a couple of things from you so I would have a bigger chance to survive."

His face relaxed a little after my words.

"Well yes, I was a beta tester." He started.

"But you must have been one too, otherwise you wouldn't have been able to get here alive. The way you fight, I can see you have been used to higher level swords and sword skills."

I looked surprised. But thinking about it, it wasn't weird that he saw it. It was true after all. After seeing my face surprised, his became serious again.

"Well your right that I do have some experience myself. I won a quiz and the prize was a tour at Argus, the company who had made this game. During my time there I had the chance to try the game out for one day. That is how I know some stuff. But because it was just one day, most of the time I had I used different kind of swords to find out the kind I like. The avatar they gave me was a level 50 one so I was able to use a lot of the higher level skills and was able to get swords of the same level too."

He looked at me and was thinking about what I had said. Was he thinking I was lying to him?

"Well, there was a quiz back then. So if you tested the game you should know the answer to this question. There were always GM logged on, but the head of the GMs, what did he look like?"

He looked serious and I noticed his hand slowly moving towards the handle of his sword.

"Well, I have met him one time so I'm not really sure but I think his avatar was just like all male GMs. An old sorcerer with a ling beard. But because it wasn't always the same because no one can be logged in 24 hours a day. If it was a girl, there avatar was a bespectacled girl. But you could always see who the GMs were because they always would wear the same robe as Kayaba did on the day this started."

He took his hand away from his sword and started smiling.

"First, you are right. And second, it seems that you can work under pressure. You noticed I moved my hand and still you took your time while getting ready to dodge if I attacked. Very well then, I will teach you what you want to know. But I am not planning to form a guild here. So after we are done, our ways will separate again."

After 3 days of training he had told me almost everything he knew and I was aware what had to be done. I had to find the boss room and until I had found it, map the dungeon. The moment I was back in the city, share it with everyone else and hope that anybody else who went in the dungeon did the same. There were some people trying to make money from the data but after they founded out I was giving the same data away for free they stopped with it.

One month after it all started, I was in the dungeon still trying to find the boss room. I know a lot of people are gathering today to make a plan to work together to find and defeat the boss. But I decided to go to the dungeon. I knew Kirito was going to the plaza so if something interesting would happen, he would send me a message. I would do the same if I founded the boss room. So the ones in the plaza would go right to planning the boss raid instead of finding the room.

After I was nearly there, I got a message from Kirito saying the room was found and that the Guide Book had information about the boss monster. They were planning to attack it in the morning.

The guide book he was talking about was a small book that was sold for free in most shops. It contained information about the game and would have an update when people shared information in it. That way we would have information about what monster are ahead of us, or like in this case, the boss monster. Most likely, the last part was shared by the game itself to help us a little. Most likely, only the first boss would have this feature. After that we had to see for our self what the second and from that one would be like.

I decided to go back so I could take part of the raid the next day. But because of a lot of monsters in my way I had no other option then to keep using save zones in the dungeon to rest and charge myself up. Because of that it was already morning when I finally was outside of the dungeon.

Because of that I decided to rest and not be part of the group moving towards the boss room. Later that day I got the information that thanks to Kirito the boss was defeated. The only part I didn't understand was why they called him a [ Beater ].

When I tried to send him a message to ask it to him, I noticed that he was no longer in my friend list. What was weird because he was there the day before. There wasn't a way he had died, he was too strong for that so there had to be a reason he deleted me.

I had the chance to ask it to him, 4 month later on the 6th of April 2023 when I suprisedly met him on floor 11. The front line was already on floor 28 and I was here to get some items. So was he here for the same thing?

After we talked for some time I learned that they called him a beater because he knew about the weapon the boss used. The information in the guide book was wrong and after he noticed that, it was already too late and someone died. They founded out he was a beta tester and called him a cheater. That is how they came up with the name [ Beater ] for him. He was on this floor to escape from those people for a bit and have some time to relax. Also that a guild had invited him to join them after he had saved them but he was scared that if they founded out that he was the [ Beater ] and his level was higher than them, they would be angry at him and wont trust him.

"Well, I think you should join them Kirito. Being a Solo Player does increases the risk of being killed." I said to him.

"I always have some things ready to be save but yeah, it is a lot saver to being with a group. But what will happen if they see my level. They will know I'm a lot stronger and they will not trust me for it."

"Then hide your level." The reason I knew about this is because I spoke with some players that had done that.

"Hide your level? Can you do that?" he asked surprised.

I showed him how to do it and 2 days later he joined that guild. He seemed happy so I left for the front lines again, knowing he would be alright. And because he was in my friend list again, I would know if something was up.

Later that year I met him again, it was December 20, 2023 on floor 49. He was looking for information about a rumor spreading around. That on Christmas Eve, an event would take place and the reward for it was an item that would revive players that were killed.

It was almost as he was a completely other person. When I got close to him I noticed that the emblem for member of a guild was no longer there. And just like me, he had been leveling up like crazy. I was already level 70, but he, who had been on the lower floors after he joined the guild was also level 70.

After I asked him about it, he told me about how the entire guild had been killed. And he was after that item in the hope to revive a girl from that guild, Sachi. I offered my help but he didn't want it. He would do this alone.

Instead of leaving him there I found as much information I could. Places that were big enough for a boss fight and stuff like that. I did that mostly because I was ashamed I couldn't understand what he was going through.

Sadly, I founded out a month later. I met a party in a dungeon and because we both had the same goal, exploring and mapping that dungeon I joined them and we went together. Because I was stronger than them, I hide my level and told them I didn't know why it didn't show my level but that it was the same as them. I knew that if I used sword skills higher of level than the level they had, they would find out so I mostly did support then the actually fighting. But then it back fired on me,

We ran into a trap and we were surrounded by monsters. When I figured it out, I accidently used a high level sword skill. They all turned around and looked surprised at me, and because of that, monsters attacked in from behind and they didn't have time to defend themselves.

They were all killed and I was the only one that survived. Because I lied to them, they were killed. If they had known my true level, they weren't surprised when I used that skill and wouldn't be distracted.

A week after that, I met Kirito and we talked about it. Both of us didn't talk about what happened but mostly about how we had to move forward from it. We decided that it was probably the best to try and forget it and move on. If we didn't, then we both would die to, or too scared to fight at all. We knew it wasn't easy to do, but we didn't had a choice and went or separate way.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Time moved quickly as it was already June of that year. I slowly leveled up but I ran into a new problem. The sword I was using wasn't power full enough. I went to a lot of stores with the hope to find one I liked but I couldn't find one. Then I learned that I could let one made if I had the right metal for it and decided to look for those.

It wasn't easy to find good metals for the sword I liked so after I heard that on floor 55 a dragon lived that had diamonds that would be crafted into swords I decided to take a look.

It was already the 25th of June when I tried to find those at the Western Mountain. It didn't take me long to get to the top and to find the dragon.

After he spotted me, he attacked right away with his breath attack. With my speed it wasn't hard to dodge it but I was a bit nervous. What were it other attacks and why does he only have one arm?

I attacked him with a charge skill and hit him in his stomach. The moment he attacked with his claws I switched to an uppercut skill and hit him on his jaw. This went on for some time. When he attacked I would dodge it and would go in straight to attack him. For someone my level, it would have been an easy victory but because I didn't have a sword power full enough for my level it took my around 20 minutes to get his HP down to the red zone.

The dragon had read my attacks and because of that was trying to trick me. When I went in, he would pretend to strike with his claws, if I would jump upwards, he would attack with his breath attack, leaving me nowhere to dodge. The first time it happened it almost got me. Thanks to my high reaction speed I could counter it with a sword skill and left his breath attack nothing but air.

I didn't had a choice then but it came with a price. My sword had a crack in it and my guess would be I only had one hit with it before it would break so I had one chance to finish it.

I moved in with an amazing speed and dodge to the right when the claw came, nearly avoiding his teeth when it tried to bite me. After I was behind him, I jumped up and used the highest one hit sword skill I could use hit this sword and attacked the back of the head.

The moment my sword skill was complete, the sword broke. But it wasn't the only thing that broke that moment. Thanks to my last hit, the dragon was defeated and was destroyed into an infinity amount of polygons and disappeared completely. Instead the window popped up saying how much XP I had won, together with any items. It also said how many % of the total damage I made to the monster. I was surprised it only said 89%. I was the only one battling it so it should be 100% right?

I won enough XP to level up and the moment it did, I received a message. I ignored it to look at the items and wanted to get a teleport crystal ready. Because I didn't had a sword now, I wouldn't be able to defend myself if any monsters attacked so I had to get myself to safety.

The moment I looked on the list, I was shocked for a moment. The information about this dragon said clearly you would won a material for a sword and not a completed sword. When I looked closer I saw all the materials so why was that sword there?

I took my crystal and teleported myself back to the city and walked right to the inn there. After I rented a room there I went to it and locked the door. I had learned that if it comes to rare items you can't be too careful because there are a lot of players who would be jealous and would try to steal it from you.

I looked again at the items I had just got. The items I got where: 8 dragon ingots, 4 crystallite ingots, 1 S-Class sword material Dragon Soul, 2 S-Class ingredients for food and the sword Exidator.

I left the food for now and looked at the description for the Dragon Soul and read: Combined with 2 crystallite ingots and 4 dragon ingots it would create a rare sword. High level blacksmith required.

So for that I need to find a blacksmith with high skills. I looked at the other 2 and found out that also 1 crystallite ingot could be made into a sword and 1 dragon ingot could be used to upgrade a sword made from crystallite ingots. I hoped the blacksmith could tell me more about that but that have to wait until then.

Then I took the sword out and was surprised by it. It was a heavy one-handed sword made from black obsidian, one of the hardest metals that existed in this world. The handle was a perfect fit for my hand and the weight was just perfect for me.

If you didn't look at the stats, it looked kind of a simple weapon. From the handle, it had 2 spikes at each side of the blade. The blade itself was very wide except from the handle to the punt the spikes were connected to the blade. Below that point, the blade down, it became smaller until it was just a bit wider than the handle.

I looked at the information from the sword, trying to understand why I got it. It said: this unique sword is rewarded to the player who have made 85 to 91% of the total damage on a boss monster from floor 52 or up.

Then I remembered. The dragon already did miss one arm. So there had been someone before me who had battled it. Was he defeated? Boss monsters needed 2 days to fully recover the 4th HP bar. But still, even if that happened, the % of damage the player had done to get it that low, would have been calculated. So in this case, that player would have done a little damage to the dragon before getting away or in the worst case, had died. Leaving me to deal the rest of damage and got hold of this rare sword.

As I put the sword on my back, I realized I had an unread messages, the one I got on the moment I leveled up. I opened the inbox and noticed it was from Argus and got scared. Argus were the ones that made this game! Why would I have a messages from them? With a shaking hand I pressed it and a sound appeared.

"Congratulation. You have unlocked the gift from Argus, which is stored inside this Nerve Gear. This moment you are strong enough for the unique extra skill Sword Birth. Use it wisely."

For a moment I couldn't understand what it meant. A gift? The unique skill Sword Birth? I opened my skill list and found it there. I equipped it and opened the information.

This extra skill is unique to 1 player in the whole game. It allows the player to switch swords and skills by only thinking about it and give him the option too also use it as a way to use other unique Skills like Dual Blade and Holy sword. Be prepared, using one of those 2 skills isn't without exception. You can use both skills freely as you see fit but aren't able to use all sword skills that come with it. For example, if you use Dual Blade, you aren't able to use any higher level sword skill then the skill Starburst Stream.

I had to read it more than 5 times too understand it. I looked at the skill list again and was thinking to switch my skill tracking with the skill Stealth I was trying to master. The moment I switched them in my mind, the list changed before my eyes without me touching them.

After doing it a few more times, I closed the window and did the same thing again and I learned that I don't need to have the menu open for it. So even in mid battle I could change skills if I need to. That really unique and can come in handy from time to time.

The information said I also was able to do this with swords and looked in my inventory if I had any spare swords left. After I found some I closed the menu again and tried switching swords. After a few tries I had the hang of it and tried to have 2 swords equipped at the same time. On my first try, one of the spare swords appeared on my left shoulder and the skill Dual Blade popped up in my skill list.

The moment I let the second sword disappear, the skill disappeared as well. I tried switching to a 2-handed sword and the moment it appeared, the one-handed sword skill changed to the 2-handed sword skill required to use 2 handed swords. The moment I got the 2 handed sword, it didn't change so this must also be a bonus I got from this extra skill. It was even mastered to the point I had the one-handed sword skill mastered.

With some training, this skill can make me into one of the strongest players on the front lines. I couldn't help myself to think that. But until that moment, I should keep this to myself. And only use it when no one is close to me. That way no one will find out.

It was the 12 of August when I nearly mastered the skill. It was late at night and I was training in a lower dungeon so the changes of running into someone where pretty small. Not only did I mastered Sword Birth but also Dual Blade. The combo with Sword Birth was really useful because between fights I could easily hide the second sword with only thinking about it. That way if I run into someone, they wouldn't notice it. And if a monster span in front of me, I could pull it out again to help me defeat it.

I walked around a corner and saw a player in front of me to my surprise. It appeared to be Kirito and he was fighting a monster. I took a moment to watch and at that time he used a sword skill to end the battle. The moment I saw the skill the hair on my neck went straight up. He used the skill I just learned, Starburst Stream. It was a sword skill that could only be used with Dual Blade!

Because I was standing behind him, I didn't noticed the sword in his left hand until he activated that sword skill. He defeated the monster with a strong 16-hit combo sword skill and the moment it disappeared he turned around. His face became red and wanted to walk away quickly.

"You… You have Dual Blade?" I asked still in shock.

His face turned to me with an impression he was in shock just like me.

"You know about that skill?"

It took some time before we calmed down and we used that time to walk to a save zone. That way it was save to talk and we didn't had to worry about monsters spanning.

"How do you know about Dual Blade?" was the first thing he asked.

"Well, I don't know how to say this, but simply put, I can use that skill to. But for how long are you able to use it?"

"A couple of months ago it appeared in my skill list. I let this sword made and since then I have been training it late at nights so no one would see it. But is it possible that you can use the same unique extra skill as me?"

"It's not the same. I have the extra skill Sword Birth. It let me switch skills and sword by just thinking about it. And it also let me use the extra skills Dual Blade and Holy Sword. I can't fully use those extra skills. Like with Dual Blade, the highest sword skill I can use is the Starburst Stream you just used."

"There is still something I don't really understand. You said that you can use Dual Blade and are here to train it, how come I only see 1 sword on your back?"

"Like I said, I can switch swords by just thinking about it. That way out side of battle, I can walk around with only one equipped and the moment I enter battle, equip it so I can use it."

He still looked like he didn't understand so I turned my back a little and equipped the second sword. And after that, let it disappear again.

"I see, so that's how it is. But I have still one question. Your primary sword looks incredibly strong, how come you're secondary is a much weaker sword? Why don't you try it like I do with these strong swords?" after he asked it, he removed the 2 swords on his back and put them between us."

"The only strong sword I have is the primary I'm using. I'm looking for a good blacksmith to let materials I have turn into a sword." I understand why he did it, so I also removed my sword and put it next to his.

After we both looked at each other swords, we founded out that our primary were nearly the same. His secondary was player made and he advised me to go to a blacksmith called Lizbeth's smith shop on the 48th floor. And I decided to go there.

After we talked a little more about Dual Blade and both learned new things about it, it was already early in the morning. I learned from him things that requires 2 strong swords and he from me what you can do if you have only 1 strong sword and how to coop with that.

We walked together back to the city, still talking about swords and sword skills. We ran into some monsters in our path but together we easily defeated them. We also used each other swords to see if they were really evenly matched and they were. His Elucidator felt and handled the same as my Exidator and it almost felt like the same sword. His Dark Repulsor felt even better because it felt like you were holding a soul instead of a sword.

When we arrived at the teleport gate we both went our separate way again. I decided to take it easy this day and instead of going into the dungeon again, I went to the 48th floor to the blacksmith Kirito had recommended. After some searching I found the store and it was already open.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** Thank you for the reviews and PMs about the story. Feel free to send them and help to get the story even better.

**Chapter 5**

The store was completely empty. I was the only one here and I plan on leaving again when I heard a sound coming from the back. I walked towards it and noticed it was a woman's voice coming from behind the big wooden door that was next to the counter.

"After all the trouble I made to make him that sword, he doesn't even bother to come back now and then to let me know how it felts and what he can do with that sword." She sounded angry.

"And not only that, he even doesn't let me tell someone I made that sword or tell other players I made a sword for him so it doesn't help me get more customers. If I had known this would happen, I never had given him that sword for free!"

The door wasn't locked so I opened it slowly and peaked inside. There was only one person there so she had been talking to herself. I looked more closely and noticed a beautiful girl standing there with a big hammer in her hand. Her outfit looked more like that from a maid then a blacksmith but that hammer in her hand let clearly show that she was one.

"Euh… excuse me. Good morning, is this Lizbeth's smith shop?" I asked nervously and I didn't know what else to say.

She didn't expect me standing there and was so surprised she let the hammer fall out of her hands.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's alright. It's just… that normally… people don't arrive here at 6 in the morning…"

"It's just 6am? I had the idea it was at least 8!" Surprised I opened the menu to take a look at the clock.

She was right. It was 6am. My idea, and Kirito too, that it was already past that when we walked out of the dungeon earlier. That was because the sun was already coming up. The past month it came up around 6am. I checked the Aincrad calendar and noticed the sun today had come up at 5am.

"Again I'm really sorry, after I exited the dungeon, the sun was already up and that's why I thought it was at least past 6am."

"It's alright. The sign says the shop is open so I really can't complain about it right?" she laughed but then she became serious again.

"You just came from a dungeon?!" she asked a little in shock.

"Yes I did. I was there from late last night to train a skill that I didn't want to let anybody know that I used it." I couldn't help but laugh after seeing her being surprised again after hearing what I just said.

We walked back to the store, both still laughing about how shocked she was. She also knew a lot of players would train some skills if no one was around to make sure no one saw there trump-card.

"But welcome to Lizbeth's Smith's Shop, my name is Lizbeth. How can I help you?"

In the store I looked again at the girl. Was she really that skilled as Kirito said she was? And how was I going to find out? If she wasn't, the S-Class item would be destroyed if the process to make it into a sword has failed.

The best thing would be to test her out with my secondary. Because of the high level Skills I used, it showed already a lot of little cracks. I had the metal nessasary to repair it. But if she noticed it was a much lower sword than the one on my back, would she be angry of my doubts in her Skill?

To try this without her finding out, I have to switch the sword on my back with the secondary. That isn't a hard thing to do. Thanks to Sword Birth it only takes one thought to do it, but I don't want her to see me doing it. She would know something is weird about it and I have to tell her about that Skill.

I need to distract her long enough so I can switch them. I looked around and pointed at a decent looking sword behind her.

"I'm looking for a sword. That one behind you looks interesting. Can I take a look?"

When she turned around to look at the sword I pointed at, I quickly switched the swords.

"Well that sword isn't that power full to be honest. I created it for people from the lower floors. It's a bit cheaper so if someone comes here, I have something to sell to them. I can repair the sword on your back if it needs it, or make a whole new one. The price for metal is a bit high now so both wont came cheap. And I have to order the metal because I just ran out of it. So it will take at least a full day to get it repaired."

"Then I would like to let this one get repaired. I also have the material needed to do that so do you have time to do it right away?" I removed the sword with the scabbard from my back and gave it to her. Then I opened the menu and selected the metal and gave it to her.

"Well it seems it is the right material and I don't have anything else to do so I don't see a problem with that.' She looked happy because she had something to do now.

"Please follow me then. Most of the swordsman want to keep an eye on their swords so you can come with me." I walked behind her to the room she was in earlier.

Inside the room was a large furnace used for heating up the metal in order to make it into a sword or to repair a sword. She placed the metal in the furnace and took the sword out of its scabbard.

"Well… it's not surprising you want this repaired. It looks awful. What did you do with this? Fighting a wall or something?"

"No nothing like that. I went to one of the higher floor dungeons to test a Skill I just learned. I didn't know that the monsters there have shields and a Skill hit the shield and cracked because of that."

She took the metal out of the furnace and placed it on top of the sword. She grabbed her hammer and hit the metal until it had the shape of the blade. The system recognized what she was trying to do and the metal and sword became one and made it look as a brand new sword.

"Repairing a sword is a bit more difficult than making a new sword because you have to hit the metal to the form of the blade. If you do this wrong, the metal and the sword will break. But luckily for you, you choice a blacksmith that has a very high Skill to do this." She gave the sword back to me with a face filled with proud.

I took a look at the sword and noticed the stats were higher than before. She noticed me looking at them.

"The reason the stats are higher is because of the rare metal you gave me and because my blacksmith Skill is high."

"I have more of that metal. As a thanks I want to give it to you. That way you can make other players as happy as I am right now."

"That will be too much so I can't accept it. And with my high blacksmith Skill I can easily obtain it myself if I looked for it." Again she was talking about her Skill. Was she bragging or did she now something?

"Still, I want to give it to you. I have no need for it so it only is fair I gave it to you."

"Then I will see it as a payment for the next sword I repair or make for you." She looked right at me with a serious look before she continued.

"I don't like it if people are trying to fool me. The cracks in that sword aren't made because you hot a shield. A sword that hits a shield will only crack or break at its weak point. The cracks your sword had can only be made by using a very high level Skill and I don't believe that a player with a level like yours would use a lower level sword as this one." She didn't looked angry when she said that.

"Well you see…. Euh… I…" I didn't know what to say.

"But there is one thing I would like to know. The one reason that kept me from kicking you out of my store for doing this. When you walked in, you had a different sword on your back than that sword. How did you switched them that quickly in the second I wasn't looking? I didn't hear the menu open so you didn't do it that way."

Busted! She knew all along! And that's why she was talking about her Skill this whole time. She knew I wasn't here to just repair this sword.

"I'm really sorry for doing that. I did it because a friend recommended you as a very good blacksmith. I only let this sword get repaired too see if he wasn't lying and now I know he wasn't. The reason I had to do it is because I have a really rare material that only can be made into a sword by a very high skilled blacksmith. I couldn't take that risk."

"I see. It's not that I don't understand. A lot of male players think I am a bad blacksmith just because I'm a girl you see. But I will forgive you this time."

"Thank you. And if there is one thing this world have taught me, it's that woman aren't as weak as some people dare to say. I have fought next to girls on the front lines that are as or even stronger than me so I would never think that for the rest of my live."

I opened the menu again and searches for the materials hoping to changes the subject before she asked again after my Skill. I opened a window in front of her so she could see the items I selected. The moment she saw the list, she took a few steps back with a shocked impression on her face.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I can make a sword from the S-Class material but I won't make one from the other. I already made a Dark Repulsor and it won't be fair to him to make another for you."

"The friend that recommended you to me was that player. Kirito knows I have this material and he is fine with it. Mostly because I only want to let it made for a back-up sword in case the other breaks."

She looked surprised at me but seems to believe me. She took another look at list and was thinking about something. Then a smile appeared on her face and she looked at me.

"I will make both swords on 1 condition. You don't need another back-up weapon because the one on your back when you walked in was strong enough for that. Based on the look of it I would say it's an obsidian sword and will be as strong as a Dark Repulsor. So if you want me to make these swords, you have to tell me how you switched the swords and tell me why you needs 3 swords. You switched the subject just now so there must be a reason that you won't tell me it."

"Is there not another way you can make the swords?" I asked hopefully.

"No. Unless you tell me, I will also tell all the other blacksmith about your S-Class material and how you switched swords in a second but wouldn't want to tell me how you did that."

She had me there.

"Fine. But I want to make 1 thing sure. What are you going to do with this information?"

"I won't sell it if that is what you think. And I won't tell anybody. Not only on how you did it, or your swords. I only hope that if someone asks you where you got that sword, you will tell them I made it for you so I would have more customers. For that I will keep it a secret. Deal?"

"I can live with that. I have an extra Skill. It is called Sword Birth and it let me switch swords and Skills without using the menu. It also let me use Dual Blades for example and that's why I need 3 swords."

"You can do what?! Can you show me?"

I turned around and raised both hands to show I wasn't using the menu. I switched the repaired secondary I still had on my back with the black Exidator I loved. The moment I did that I heard a second scream of surprise.

After I did it a few more times to let her make sure I did it without the menu she believed me and we went to work on the swords. Before we tried to make the S-Class sword we made looked at the Dark Repulsor. The information said that you could make a stronger one if during the time the material was hot, you added 2 dragon ingots. You could also add them after you had made it but it would be a little lower in stats. But we had the materials to make 2 and we needed to do it with the S-Class anyway we gave it a shot.

I didn't had any Skill in blacksmith so the only thing I did was to handed her the things she needed to make sure the process wouldn't fail. It only took us one try to make it work and we both jumped around from joy.

"Wow. Look at this sword. It's amazing!" I raised the Dark Repulsor in my hand and let it swing to the left and right. I looked at Lizbeth again.

"I have held Kirito's one and it felt amazing, almost as if there was a soul into it. But this one feels even better! Almost if it is a part of me. How did you do that?"

"Just like with the one I made for Kirito, I put my heart and my feeling into the hammer." She was blushing while she said that.

I couldn't help myself. It looked like she had the same feelings as I have. I realized it when we were making this sword. If I really think that way about her, this is my only change to make it work.

"Well… since it's already 1pm… Can I… Would you…" I took a deep breath.

"Would you like to go to lunch with me?" I asked nervously.

"Are you… asking … me out on a date?" Her face was completely red now.

"Yeah… I am… would you like that?" now my face became red too.

"I would like that." She said with a smile and I smiled back to her.

"But can we do that after we made this sword? Because if we do it now, we have to look at the time to make the other sword." she asked.

"That's maybe a better idea yes. And we can celebrate the completion of the sword after dinner."

So we went back to work. Every time or eyes met we both started blushing again so we tried to avoid that. After we had heated up all the materials, we put them together. The Dragon Soul in the middle and on both sides a Crystallite ingot and the 4 Dragon ingots in front and behind them. Because of the heat they melted together and the last thing to complete the process was to hit the Dragon Soul with the hammer to make it flat. She took the hammer from me and on that moment or hands touched each other. She turned her face to me.

"Do you really like me or is it just to let me make you a sword?" she asked.

I really liked her but didn't know what to say. My mind was going crazy thinking of an answer. Then I realized something. In these kind of situation you shouldn't think with your mind but with your hart. That moment I knew what I needed to do to show her my feelings.

I took a step closer to her and took her head in my hands and moved my lips to hers. I never would have guessed a kiss could feel anything like this. After I moved away a little a tear came out of her eye. She turned again towards to table and hit the materials with her hammer.

After 3 hits, a white light appeared and the materials formed a single sword. It looked really power full and the name Sentinel Repulsor appeared in a window together with its stats. But I didn't looked at them, instead I moved again towards Lizbeth and again we kissed for a long time.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

I don't know how long we kissed, but when we both opened our eyes, the sun was already set. I looked deep into those beautiful eyes and I tried to think of any moment I was as happy as I am now.

We both got distracted when we heard the bell of time telling to make us realize it was already 8PM. We both looked away with a shocked impression on our face. How long did we kiss? When we were almost finished with the sword and it happened, the sun was shining bright into the window.

I looked shocked at the sword. How could I almost forgot about it! She followed my eyes and was as shocked as I am when she noticed the sword. Did she forget about it to? Then she started to laugh.

"I… completely… forgot… about… that." She said between her laughs.

"Me too to be honest." And I started laughing with her.

The sound of her cheerful laugh made me feel warm inside. I never knew 1 girl could have this big of an effect on me. Her voice stopped the thoughts that ran through my mind.

"Have you tried it yet?"

"No not yet. Something came up I had to do first." I don't know why I said that but her red face after hearing my voice was a good enough reason for me.

I looked over to the table at the sword. It had a handle that almost was exact the same as my Exidator, and the blade of the Dark Repulsor. There were different but not by much. I was surprised for a moment because of that.

The different in the handle was the color to begin with. Instead of black it was a nice deep red. And as the handle from the Exidator was connected to the blade with a spike pointing out, this one was almost as a dragon tooth pointing towards the blade. But the blade was almost exactly the same as the Dark Repulsor. They had the same green like color. The only different there was the decoration at the lower part of the blade were instead of the same color as the Dark Repulsor had, blue with in the middle a thin white line. But both swords had on the point that the handle connected with the blade, the same deep green orb. The size and the color were exactly the same.

Because I still looked at the sword without touching it, Lizbeth was starting to worry I think because her voice woke me up from my thoughts.

"Is something wrong?"

"I just find it a bit weird. If I look at the handle, I see my Exidator but a bit different. If I look at the blade I see the Dark Repulsor, also a bit different. And it has the same green orb as my Exidator. It isn't almost the same, no it's exact. And they are kind of on the same place, where the handle is connected to the blade."

She looked at the sword and compared it to my Exidator that laid on the table in the corner. She didn't need to see the Dark Repulsor to compare it too. She made that sword 2 times now, she knows how that one looks like.

"Yeah you right. I have never seen that. Well I have seen it with player build weapons because as a blacksmith, you can put your signature on it, but never with a player build sword and a monster dropped sword."

"Well, to be honest. It won't change the fact why we build it. If the 3 of them are almost the same, it would mean they should go well together right?"

"I guess so." Her voice sounded doubtful. But I believed in it.

I picked on the sword and the moment my hand touched the handle, a warm feeling moved from my hand, through my arm towards my heart. It was the same feeling I felt when we kissed the second time. I felt her hart, filled with love coming from this sword. She looked at me and knew what I felt just now.

"I didn't put my soul into this sword like I always do. I put my hart and feelings into this one. So every time you draw this sword, you will think of me and that it will support you when you fight and that it will bring you back alive."

"With this sword, filled with your hart I will fight even harder to stay alive and to clear this game. With your hart backing me up, I know I can do that."

I opened the menu and put the sword in my inventory. She handed me my Exidator and I hang it on my back. She knew I wasn't going away but wanted to test it hanging on my back as well as drawing it.

With only one thought, the Sentinel Repulsor appeared in its scabbard hanging on the left side of my back. I moved my hands and grabbed both handles and pulled them out right at the same time. The moment both swords were clear from there scabbards, a window opened in front of me.

It wasn't a message or quest. It was the kind of window that would open if you unlocked something. As I looked at it, I've read the text:

Sacred Swords combo confirmed Exidator and Sentinel Repulsor. New Sword Skill for these weapons unlocked: Dragon' Sentinel 29-Hit combo.

"I UNLOCKED WHAT?!" I put the window in show-mode so Lizbeth could see it too.

Her jaw dropped as hard as mine did. I knew there were higher Dual Blade sword skills with more than the 16-hit combo I knew, Starburst Stream. Because I did Dual Blades thanks to my extra skill Sword Birth I could only use around 70% of all sword skills it had. For me Starburst Stream was the highest one. But Kirito, who has the extra skill, told be about some higher sword skills he hasn't tested out yet. He told about a 19-hit combo and because he had almost mastered it like me, I always had the idea that a 19-hit combo was the maximum.

"I think I have to find Kirito. I think he will know more about this then me, because he has the real skill Dual Blades. Yesterday he nearly had mastered it so he can tell me if there are really hit combos of this many hits."

"Yeah that's true, but if there isn't, do you really want to let him know that you have one? And maybe you should put the sword away before anyone sees it." She sounded nervous.

Maybe she was right. But if I really have 2 sacred swords as the messages said, maybe it's even better if I use the Dark Repulsor as my primary then. I was really thinking about switching them when the Exidator in my hand disappeared and weight was added on my right shoulder, the place it is usually in its scabbard before I feel this weight.

"How did you do that? And you haven't told me you could even return a sword to its scabbard that way."

Now I realized what had happened. Because I thought about it, Sword Birth had returned the sword to its scabbard. That's why the weight increased. I grabbed the handle pulled out the sword.

That moment a new message popped up:

Sacred Swords combo confirmed Dark Repulsor and Sentinel Repulsor. New Sword Skill for these weapons unlocked: Dragon Repulsor 25-hit combo.

"Another one?!" I couldn't believe it. I have 2 new high hit combo sword skills thanks to a sword I haven't used. I haven't even swing it left and right or how it handled with lower, easy 1-hit sword skills.

I looked at Lizbeth. She couldn't believe it either. We both stared at each other trying to come up with a logic reason this happened. After 20 minutes, we still had zero.

"This won't help anything. Let's eat first and think about it later." I asked to her.

"It's already close to 9PM so that's a good idea. Do you have an idea where to go?"

"Kirito told me about a nice quite Inn on floor 39. Would you like to try it out?"

"Sure. Let me get ready then." She walked out quickly and I watched again at the new sword.

It didn't took her long to get ready and we enjoyed ourselves at the Inn. We had taken a private table in the corner and talked about a lot of things. And when time past, slowly it turned into a really nice romantic dinner. I look on her face showed that she was truly happy. Mine should show the same because even I felt that way.

It was already past midnight when we went back to her house. Because I thought it would be rude and totally destroy the mood, I waited until right before she went inside to tell her I was planning to visit a dungeon now to try the sword and the skills out. She wasn't happy about it, but understood why I wanted to do it. Only after I promised her to tell her all about it the next day, she kissed me good night and luck and went inside.

While I was walking back to town, I opened the menu and went to the friends list. You could always track befriended players and I pressed on Kirito's name to show his location. He entered a dungeon. It took me 1 hour to reach the dungeon he was in. I decided that it was a good chance to try out the swords, since he should be pretty far in the dungeon by now.

First I tried the Dark Repulsor. It didn't matter what sword skill I activated, they all felt really smooth and sturdy. The sword was perfectly balanced and cut through the monsters as if they were made from paper.

Then I switched to the Sentinel Repulsor. That sword was really something else. Everything I tried to do with it, worked perfectly. It felt really simple and took no problem at all. The sword felt like a part of my body and moved as one. I decided to give it a little harder test next.

A big disadvantage of sword skills is that after a sword skill is completed a short pause is active before you can move again. That means that for a short period you are defenseless. Me and Kirito had talked about it before and both were trying to find the best way to do it: Chaining Sword Skills.

It's just as the name says it is, chaining different sword skills into 1 higher hit combo. The idea behind it is that the ending movement of a sword skill, is the starting point of the next you activate. For example: if you use the sword skill Rush, you start with your sword above your head and strikes downwards. Its end position is the sword pointing straight forward, wits is also the starting point of the sword skill Uppercut.

So just after you hit downwards because of Rush, just before the pause will kick in, you activate Uppercut and hit up wards again, chaining 2 single 1-hit sword skills into a 2-hit combo. Together Kirito and I had made up our own chain made from a couple 2-hit combo and a 3-hit combo what created an 11-hit combo. It wasn't a strong combination, but it was a good practice combo for training outside of battles. Mostly because you had to activate the next skill at exactly the right moment or it would fail.

I decided to try it out with this sword and took the stand for the first skill. One after another skill was activated at a speed, neither of us had ever done it. Was it because of my training or of this sword? I walked quickly deeper into the dungeon.

After some minutes of walking I saw something in the distance. It looks like a fight, but so many monsters in one spot? I started to sprint to close the distance.

What appeared before my eyes wasn't a mob spanner or a trap. It was a PK guild, a guild that murder other players to get the items it was holding. They stood in a circle around there target. They didn't saw me coming so I took a jump and aimed for the inner circle.

"Good evening boys and girls, mind if I join the party?" I tried to sound cocky and get the focus on me instead of the young boy that was there target. As I drew my sword, from the circle a player stepped forward.

"You have one change, drop your items and cash or we will kill you."

"You want my items? Why don't you try and take them from me."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

First they attacked one at the time. But when I blocked there attacks, they switched to two players attacking. It didn't take long before the first strike hit my body. But I was fighting back. I wasn't targeting the players but there weapons and I had broken some of them. I jumped back to gain some time for my Battle Healing Skill to kick in.

"Your HP is already in the yellow zone. Drop your sword and we will make this quick for you. Refuse, and we will attack all at once. Your choice." The leader thought he had won this fight.

He didn't know I was holding back. First to guide the kid to the wall so he was out of the battle zone, and second because I didn't wanted to show my extra skill. I closed my eyes and checked my surroundings with my battle skill Stealth.

Stealth was one of the handiest skills I got mastered. It won't only helps you to stay quiet and sneak up on enemies, but also to make you aware of everything a rounds you. That way I would know if someone is behind me and even what swords they were using.

Leveling up that skill wasn't easy. You had to sneak up on enemies and you had to stab them with a dagger or throwing knife in there neck. It was a one-hit-kill attack so if it worked you were fine. But because you can't have a sword in your hand, if you failed and the monster attacked, you were defend less. I used throwing knives to do it so if they turned around, I could still throw one to defend myself.

The other requirement was to fight monsters with your eyes closed. You would 'see' there movements because of the skill but it wasn't easy to do it. A lot of players gave up on the skill because of this requirement.

Except for the leader in front of me, there were 4 players behind him. All with power full swords. Behind them where 8 with decent swords and behind them 6 with no swords but based on their movements where in the menu replacing the swords I broken with my attacks and another 2 to support them.

4 meters behind me was the boy against the wall. 6 meters to his left was a door most likely a trap. There are doors in dungeons that holds secret safe zones or transport gates but a door this far into a dungeon would be a trap. The distance was too far for me to check it with a trap dismantle skill.

So the only option left is to fight my way out of this. I still had my eyes closed and a smile appeared on my face.

"Realizing you can't win? Ready to give up now?"

"I was planning on saying the exact same thing to you. Let me give you a fair warning. I won't be holding back from now on." I opened my eyes and looked straight at him.

"We won't be holding back either. Get ready to have that weak sword of you snapped in halve!"

I looked at my sword before realizing I still had the Sentinel Repulsor in my hand. How can anyone think this sword is weak? I switched it to my left hand, and the scabbard on my back switched too. One of the requirements of the sacred sword skills I got was that the Sentinel Repulsor was on the left hand side.

The moment I switched, two players attacked from the front. They should know blocking an attack like that isn't hard to do. I closed my eyes real quick and noticed there plan. A third player was closely behind them and had his sword in his left hand, what would mean he will hit me on my right side the moment I'm blocking the first attack.

I blocked the first attack with my left hand, and pulled the Dark Repulsor I just summoned with my right hand to block the other attack. I could only smile after seeing the eyes of my attackers opening wide in shock. I put strength in my swords and broke the sword luck we were in.

After they all jumped back behind their leader, he himself could see why that attack didn't finished me off.

"Still want to continue this?" I asked him.

"WE NEVER GIVE UP!" His scream sounded angry.

He jumped in to attack me and with him the entire guild attacked. All 21 players attacked me straight on. There was no way I could defend myself long enough with only lower level sword skills.

There was only one option I had. I have to scare them off if I want to survive this. The 25-hit combo Dragon Repulsor sword skill, the sword skill I never used before. Not knowing what will happen, I activated it.

The first hit was with the Sentinel Repulsor right on the sword of the leader. His sword snapped in halve without even a warning crack, but I didn't stop there. I kept going and I used all hits to break their swords or deal that much damage to the player directly that they would think twice of attacking again. They were all wearing high level armor so a direct hit shouldn't kill them.

After my sword skill was completed I jumped back so I was in front of the boy again. I closed my eyes and counted the players in front of me. Still 21 players, I let the air escape I was holding. Some of them had their HP in the red zone but they were alive. Because some of their attacks did hit me, also my HP was in the red zone. I returned the Dark Repulsor to it scabbard and sheathed it with a loud noise. I grabbed a healing poison from my pocket and drank it, refilling my HP to 75%.

The cold taste of the liquid felt nice and I closed my eyes to enjoy it even more. Thanks to my Stealth skill, I noticed the boy behind me moving. He was moving with small steps to the left. Then he started running. It took me a moment too long to realize where he was going.

"NO DON'T OPEN IT!" I screamed while turning around but it was already too late.

The moment he opened the door, an alarm went off and holes opened in the wall. It was a span trap and more than 30 monsters spanned from all directions from the holes in the walls.

"I'm so sorry. Thank you for trying to help me." The boy said this to me just before the monsters attacked him and depleted his HP.

Behind me some players were trying to use crystals to transport to safety. I knew that wouldn't work. Most traps for the past 8 floors came with an anti-crystal area, meaning you can't use healing or transport crystals.

"There has to be a way…" I said to myself while taking a battle pose.

The guild behind me quickly got on their feet's and got ready for the incoming attacks from the monsters. A round 10 spears flew at me and I tried to dodge them.

I deflected 2 with the sword in my left hand and tried to dodge the rest of them. The ones I couldn't dodge left a scare on my shoulder and flank, reducing the HP back into the yellow zone. The guild behind me weren't as lucky. I turned around and saw, with loud screams, 6 players scattering into an infinity amount of polygons.

I searched for the leader and found him still sitting on his knees. He was too shocked to even move.

"Get up, you need to defend your people!" I screamed at him making him look towards me.

"How can we win? With one attacked they reduced your HP into the yellow zone. How can we defeat monsters that are stronger then the person who defeated us?" He said with a hopeless look on his face.

"So you just going to sit there and let them kill you? What kind of leader are you, letting your friends and guild getting killed like this?" I jumped towards him to kill the monsters closed to him.

My words seemed to have an effect on him as he looked around him to the players from his guild. Another 2 scattered into polygons as he picked up a sword laying on the ground from a killed player. I reached out my empty right hand and pulled him up.

"We have to work together if we want to survive this. We need to reach to other players and regroup." I said to him while unsheathing the sword with my right hand.

We tried reaching the other players but it seems to be too late. One after another were killed by the monsters. I killed a lot of monsters in my path but there were too many to get away. Because of all hits I took trying to save the others, my HP was already in the red zone. I looked for an exit and didn't noticed the spear flying towards me until it was too late to dodge it.

A shadow entered my vision and jumped in front of me, taking the spear dead on. It was the leader who jumped in front of me. He felt on the ground and looked into my eyes.

"You need to live….. Make sure this game gets cleared…" he said before exploding into polygons.

I couldn't believe he gave his live to save me. I sheathed the Dark Repulsor in an attempt to grab the health poison to save him when he said that. I looked around and saw the monsters. Only 12 monsters remaining. The all needed 2 hits to destroy them and a couple even 3.

"Is this how I die?" I asked to myself.

That moment the green orb on the Sentinel Repulsor lighted up. An image of Lizbeth flashed in my mind and a warm feeling ran through my body. It was almost as a heartbeat came from the sword and I knew it was her heart.

"She won't let me die. Not now…. Not ever."

I switched the Dark Repulsor for the Exidator and grabbed its handle. The moment I unsheathed it, the green orb on it lighted up to. I took a battle pose and got ready.

"Let's go!" I screamed and activated the strongest sword skill I had, the 29-hit combo Dragon's Sentinel.

I attacked them straight on and killed almost every monster in front of me. Only one monster remained as I attacked it with the last hit from my combo. If I don't deal enough damage to kill it, it will kill me during the cool down pause every sword skill has.

I moved in and attacked its chest and hit it dead on. As I entered the pause, I looked to see its HP. He still had some left! He raised his sword and was about to attack.

"This is it then. I'm sorry Liz."

The sword was coming down but stopped moving all of the sudden. The monster exploded into polygons and a figure in black appeared behind it.

"Do you always have to make such a dramatic entry?" I couldn't help it but to ask him that.

"I see you are kneeling to your savior. Since when did you become so humble?" he asked with a smile while pulling me up.

"Thank you Kirito, if you haven't showed up I wouldn't be here right now." I sheathed my swords and hide the Sentinel Repulsor so it seems I only have 1 sword.

"Drink this potion first. I was on my way back when I hear the alarm. Did you fall for that trap?" he asked while giving me a healing potion.

"No. I was trying to save a kid who was attacked by a red guild when he opened it." I drank the potion and saw him looking around.

"That's sad. Even those people don't deserve to die."

"I agree." I said before we both went quiet and moved away from the spot.

"Crap, I'm running late! She is going to be angry if I don't hurry!" he said while picking a transport crystal from his pocket.

"Her? You seeing someone?" I couldn't help but to tease him with it.

"It's not that! It is for planning the next boss fight." He replied a bit too quick.

"We haven't found the boss room yet so it can't be that…" I said to make him more nervous.

"Well, your right about that… Let's meet up tomorrow okay? Transport…" and he was gone.

I was about to transport away myself when I heard someone coming my way.

When I realized who it was I was frozen with shock. The player walking my way was Heathcliff, the strongest player in this world and Commander of the strongest guild, the Knight of Blood. What was he doing in a place like this?

He walked right up to me and stopped a few meters away from me. I looked behind him but he was all alone. I heard the vice-commander Asuna and others below her weren't allowed to leave without an escort. Shouldn't he have one too then?

"Hello player, I was looking for you." He said while looking at me.

"To be more precise, I'm looking for the player who survived that trap and killed 24 monsters of the 30 in the process." He said with a calm voice.

How did he know that? There was not a way that he could know that. What is the real reason him being here?

**A/N** I know it's mean to end with a cliffhanger, but no worries the next chapter is almost ready and will be available shortly. I've you like the story so far or have questions about it, don't be shy and send me a review or PM.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: **_feel free to review or PM about the story. _

_Also would you like me to continue with Alfheim Online after this or let it stop after SAO is cleared? I have some ideas for that but it will take effect on how the next few chapters will be. Feel free to let me know through PM or review, and if you have ideas or other things you can do that also. Thank you in advance. _

**Chapter 8**

I was trying to find out how he could know I defeated that guild and survived the trap some moments ago without being there. You can't send messages or track players if you or they are inside a dungeon so that idea is out of the question. I was the only survivor so no one could told him about it on their way out. The only thing he could know is that there was a trap, since the alarm could be heard from some distance.

"Before I answer that question, do you mind telling me how you know this?"

"Sure. Someone told me on his way out." He answered with a calm voice.

The moment the trap was set off, all players got surrounded so no one could have left. Was it possible another player had seen what happened? Or was he not telling the truth?

"I think you missed that player. I was on my way out when I heard the alarm and the moment I got here I saw a player transport away." I decided to lie.

He looked at me, hesitated to say something. Did he know I was lying to him? His expression became calm again as he spoke again.

"That is too bad then. I was hoping that player would want to join the KoB but it seems I am too late. If you meet that player, would you like to tell him I would like to speak to him?"

"Sure, but I didn't get a good look at the player so I'm not sure if I recognize him."

I didn't want to stay here any longer so I took a transport crystal out and teleported myself to the closest city. From there I took the transport gate back to the 48th floor and walked to Lizbeth's shop still thinking about Heathcliff. Maybe it's something Kirito should know.

"Crap! I forgot to ask him!" words slipped out of my mouth. Strangely there was a reply.

"You can always send him a message then." A female voice replied.

I looked over and saw a girl standing against a tree. She had beautiful chess-nut hair and wore a white with red uniform. It appeared to be Asuna, vice-commander of the Knight of Blood. Was I being followed by the KoB?

"Good morning. What brings you here Asuna?" I have met her countless time during boss fights and spoke during those times to.

"Good morning, Exia was it right? I'm just waiting for someone, that's all. And you?" she replied with a little blush on her cheeks.

"Then I won't hold you up then. Have a good time."

"Thank you, you too." She replied and I continued on.

It didn't take me long to reach Lizbeth and walked in. The NPC was behind the counter so I walked straight to the workshop behind the counter. I opened the door and found her asleep in a chair in the corner. It was 7am so I decided to let her sleep as I quietly sat down on the ground next to her and fall asleep.

A loud voice awaked me from my deep sleep.

"Morning Lizbeth! Oh sorry… I didn't know you were asleep."

I looked up and saw Asuna standing near the outside door. Lizbeth next to me jumped up from the chair and quickly replied.

"I wasn't sleeping! I never sleep during work!"

"Well you were asleep… but that's not a bad thing." I replied still on the ground.

She turned around and saw me sitting there. It appeared she hadn't noticed me until now.

"When did you get back?" she said with a little shocked impression.

I looked at the time and saw it was 8am now.

"Around an hour ago I think. I didn't want to wake you so I decided sleep a little myself. Seems that plan isn't going to happen soon." I replied as I got up.

"I didn't want to disturb you… should we come back some other time?" Asuna replied a little shy.

"No no, please come in. I'm sorry for the mess." Lizbeth said quickly.

Just now I noticed someone was with Asuna as she walked down the steps from the door.

"Are you stalking me?" I replied to Kirito walking behind Asuna.

"I thought you could use some help again, that's all." He replied and moved his right fist towards me. I hit it with my own while laughing to each other.

"But Kirito, you shouldn't let a girl wait you know." I said to him.

"How did you know that?" he was surprised for a second.

"I ran into Asuna near the gate. She told me she was waiting for someone. I guess that was you. But you left some time before me, where did you go that took so much time?"

"You said you just got from a dungeon!" Asuna walked up to him and grabbed his collar and pulled him towards her.

"Well… I had to eat right?" he replied quickly.

"If you already ate, I guess you don't need my homemade sandwiches right?" she asked with a smile.

"No please let me have them. I'm sorry Asuna, please let me have one."

We all started to laugh after seeing Kirito get on his knees begging for it.

"But what took you so long? I expected you to transport away from the dungeon with me. I even waited a little at the transport gate." He asked towards me.

"I was planning that but ran into Heathcliff."

"The commander? Are you sure? Normally he never goes out this time of day." Asuna said.

"Yeah I am sure. He arrived just after you left and told me he heard the alarm and looked to see if he needed to assist." I thought it was better to keep the rest to myself for the moment. If I was talking bad about him, Asuna may get angry with me.

"Well that sounds like him. Oh Lizbeth, can you look at my rapier? I think it needs to be polished again." She turned to Lizbeth and gave her sword to her.

I signed to Kirito to go outside and we walked up the stairs. To get some air we said to the girls. Once we had a distant big enough the girls won't hear us I turned to him.

"So you ran into Heathcliff." He started.

"Yeah, but it was really weird. He told me he was looking for the player who had fight off the guild and survived the trap and killed 28 monsters in the process. How could he have known that?"

"That's is pretty weird… maybe he was watching from a distance?"

"I don't think so but I was too focused on fighting for my life that I didn't looked around. I also didn't noticed you coming to save me so it could be he was watching from a distance. But he said he had heard it from a survivor of the guild. But they were all killed. I counted the Death Marks on the map and we got surrounded by the trap."

"I didn't saw somebody when I ran towards you so I'm not sure about that. I only saw the sword skill you were using. About that, what kind of skill was that?"

"About that, I went to the dungeon to see you. I know it is not nice digging into other player's sword skills, but do you know the highest hit combo you can do with Dual Blades?"

"I asked about yours too so it's only fair I answer you right? The highest I have now is Starburst Stream as you know. But my guess is that there are around 20 different sword skill and if that's true, Starburst Stream is number 15, leaving 5 more powerful ones. How come you asked?"

I checked if we were alone and switched the sword on my back to the Dark Repulsor and the Sentinel Repulsor.

"When I both unsheathed these swords yesterday, I got a message popped up saying I unlocked a secret sword skill that can only be used with these swords. It's a 25-hit combo, called Dragon's Repulsor."

"What?! A 25 hit combo?" He nearly screamed from the shock.

"Keep it down will you. I don't want to have this known to the public."

I switched the Dark Repulsor to my inventory again and hang the Sentinel Repulsor on my right shoulder as my Primary. I unsheathed it as my guess was he wanted to take a look at it.

"That is a powerful looking sword. Did Lizbeth make it for you?"

"Yeah she did. It's really powerful. Yesterday in the dungeon I tried the skill chaining we talked about and it worked flawless."

"Serious? I'm having a hard time doing that. Can I hold it for a second?"

"Sure, but don't break it." I handed him the sword.

"It feels amazingly strong! Where did you get the materials from?"

"From the same dragon as the Dark Repulsor came. After I defeated it, alongside the Exidator came a list with materials. One of them was an S-class material and that how I got this sword."

"Great job. This way you may be able to keep up with me." He said with a smile on his face.

I took the sword back and sheathed it again before opening the menu and opened a trade window.

"These are 2 Dragon ingots. If you give them to Lizbeth along with the Dark Repulsor she can upgrade it. See it as a thank you for earlier."

"You sure about letting me have them? Don't you need them for yourself?"

"No its fine. Liz already upgraded mine so I have no use for them anymore."

"Thank you then. I be in your debt then." He said while accepting the trade.

"No this makes us even. But let's get back to the girls shall we?"

As we walked inside the workshop again we saw Asuna rolling over the floor laughing and Lizbeth sitting in the chair with a red face.

"What is happening here?" I asked.

"Lizbeth just talked about yesterday." Asuna said before laughing again.

"What happened yesterday?" Kirito asked before my face turned red as well.

"Nothing! Nothing happened, let's changed the subject." Lizbeth said quickly.

We decided to have a rest day and went on a pick nick together. We spend the entire day laughing and enjoying the nice weather. We had fun until late in the afternoon, Asuna received a messages from her guild that ruined the fun.

The boss room for the 71ste floor was found and the raid was planned for the next morning.

We decided that the best thing now was to get ready for it. Lizbeth offered to repair or swords and equipment and after that was done, Asuna and Kirito left to go home. After Lizbeth was done with my swords, I asked to use her quest room and it didn't take long before I fall into a deep sleep.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: **_let me know what you think about the story and if you wish to let it continue through Alfheim Online or having it stop at the moment SAO is cleared. Thank you in advance. _

**Chapter 9**

It was early in the morning when I woke up. I stretched out my body as I stepped out of the bed. In this game there was no need for that but it was a habit I repeated every morning. I walked out of the guest room and went towards the living room of Lizbeth's house. I was surprised finding her there already.

"Good morning, you're up early. Sleep well?"

"I haven't slept yet. I couldn't stop thinking about some things." She replied with a sleepy voice.

"About what? Can I help you with it?"

"Will you promise me to come back alive?" I was surprised by that question.

"I don't plan on dying if that worries you. So yes, I promise."

"That's one of the things. Where… Where do we stand together?"

"How do you mean?"

"Are we a couple of was it just the moment?"

Our conversation was disturbed by a knock on the door. Since Asuna went to Grandzam, the home base of the KoB yesterday, Kirito offered to pick me up in the morning and go there together.

"I promise we will talk about this when I come back, alright?"

"Sure. Please forget about it now and concentrate on the fight."

"I promised it too you so you stop worrying about it and get some sleep. And I meant it when I kissed you the other day." I walked over to her and kissed her on the cheek.

I walked over to the door and before opening it, looked back at her. She smiled back to me with a blush on her cheeks. I opened the door and stepped outside.

"Morning Kirito." I replied to him.

"Morning… Can you tell me why every boss meeting or raid have to be this early in the morning?" he replied whit a big yawn.

I started to laugh as we walked towards the transport gate. His face, still filled with sleep made me laugh every time I looked at him. When we arrived in the city I asked him to wait a second and got us some breakfast. After he ate it with an incredible speed, he started to wake up. Both ready for the challenge, we took the gate and went towards the HQ of the KoB for the fight.

Shortly after arriving we met Agil and Klein and talked about the boss. When we had a second alone, we decided it was better to avoid using Dual Blades. Soon Asuna and Heathcliff stepped forward to give us details and talk about the strategy. It didn't take long and we went on our way.

The boss fight wasn't difficult. Easy is something else but every time someone had taken damage, someone moved in and defended them. That we again, we had a boss fight without any deaths. That was the biggest goal we aimed for. In the first city on the new opened floor, Heathcliff treated us all on a drink to celebrate our victory.

As the end of the day was coming close, we decided to go home. I talked to Agil and Klein for a bit and met Asuna and Kirito at the gate after that. We thought it would be nice for Lizbeth to eat together and celebrate our safe return. She already expected us, since she tracked us on the map and was happy we all came over. It was already deep into the night when I again was offered the guest room and was happy I could finally sleep.

Lizbeth was still asleep when I woke up the next morning. I went to the city to get breakfast and bought some newspapers. When I returned she was still asleep. After I made some coffee and tea, she woke up and was surprised I was already up and even got her breakfast.

"You didn't have to do that." She said a little embarrassed.

"It's not a big deal. I was awake and had time to spare."

We sat quietly as we ate our breakfast and enjoyed the coffee and tea and read the newspapers

"Can we talk about what we started yesterday?" she broke the silence.

"What do you mean?" I was not sure what she meant.

"Well we have kissed then and I really liked that. I want to know if it was just that or that we can build something up together."

"For me it is simple. I like you but to make it work can be difficult. Right now I live on the front lines most of the time. And I really want to keep doing that in order to clear this game as fast as possible. How do you look at that?"

"I understand that. But the things is that I will worry about you most of the time then. You being on the front line is something that is needed, but I really want you here most of the time as you can understand."

"I think we both need to think about it. But maybe we can give it a shot and see what will happen?"

As I looked to her, my eye fell on the newspaper in her hand. Low level swordsman Crimson fights off horde without sword. The name Crimson ringed a bell but I couldn't figure out from were. I thought about it and then it hit me. I jumped up.

"NO WAY!"I screamed out.

Lizbeth looked surprised at me as I took the newspaper out of her hand. I looked at the article and read it happened on the 18th floor. During a fight, his sword had broken and he nearly got out of there. I put the newspaper down and thought about it again. Lizbeth took the paper again and read the article too.

"What is so special about this?" She asked.

"I think that name is the same as my little brother uses a lot." I replied in shock.

"Your little brother? We are already 2 years into the game, if he wasn't before, then why should he be here now?"

"I had a second game, and I offered him to use it and see it for himself. I thought he didn't used it since I haven't him at the starting point." I looked again at the article.

"I need to look at it for myself and be sure. I will never forgive myself if we was in the game and died." I said to her and got ready to leave.

"What about us?" she replied hesitated.

"I'm really sorry, but if he is in this game, I need to protect him." I looked at her, knowing I would break her heart but there was no other way.

"If I find him, and he is alright, the moment his level is raised enough to be on this floor, I will take him here. Then we can look at us."

"Maybe that is the best thing. Good luck and be safe." She said after kissing me on the cheek.

"I will. I will let you know if I find him and if it is even him." I walked out of the door and ran towards the gate and teleported towards the 18th floor.

After my arrival I immediately started asking about that Crimson. Starting with if they know him and were he was staying. A lot of people didn't want to give me information, thinking I was one of the players interested in him just because of the fame he had built up just now. After some time I finally met someone who knew him. But because Crimson was getting too strong, weren't now.

"I think he is still on my friends list. Let me look." The stranger replied.

"Yes he is still here. The tracker says he is in an inn not far from here. Oh wait, he just left there. He transported out. Now he is back in starting city."

"Thank you. I will look for him there." I replied.

"Just hold on for a sec. you haven't told me why you are looking for him."

"I think he may be my little brother." I replied while taking a transport crystal from my inventory.

"Oh, then quickly find him. Go on."

I transported towards starting city and looked around. Why would he go here? There is nothing here except some shops with starting swords and the wall with the names of all players who had died. Was that were he was going? I ran towards it to see.

After arriving, around 20 meters in front of me stood a player. He was the only one here except for myself. As I looked towards the back I couldn't help but doubt if it was him. I haven't seen him in 2 years, how sure was I how he looked like? I took a few steps before asking towards the player.

"Crimson?"

The player looked over with an annoying expression on his face.

"If this is about the article in the paper, I have nothing to say…" he stopped as his eyes got bigger.

I too was standing in shock. It looked just like him.

"Ben?" I asked nervously.

"Brian?" he asked at the same time.

We both started laughing as we walked to each other and hugged.

"What took you so long?" he asked.

"I thought you didn't log in. back then I was standing at the starting plaza for more than an hour."

Both remembering that day, our laughs stopped.

"I logged on just before the ceremony." He said.

"That's why I haven't seen you. Before the ceremony I was on the planes just outside the city. And immediately after I left."

"I thought you had already died to be honest. I stayed in starting city during the first week and slowly went through the first floor after that. Because I didn't know how to play it brought me a lot of times close to death. Even 2 years into the game, I'm still just level 50. How about you?"

Thinking he would get jealous if I told him my level I replied.

"I'm a front line player, so I'm not the best to compare too. If it wasn't for the article, I would never have known you were here. An old friend of yours told me you just transported towards here. Why did you?"

"To see if there was a name here that you could have used." he said with an embarrassed face.

"Not even a little bit of believe in your brother? Shame on you." I said and we both laughed again.

I opened my menu and selected a lot of items and opened the trade window.

"This will cover for the next levels. I have read you broke your sword. Do you have a spare?"

"Don't you need these yourself?" he replied after seeing the list.

"There is no way I ever can pay for these kind of items. I don't have money to even buy a new sword."

"Then let me add a sword too. What kind do you use? I have some one-handed long swords to spare but it won't be good for long. If your level rises, you will be too strong for this sword."

"You don't have to worry about that, I will be amazed if I reach 70 before the end of this year." He said while accepting the trade and started equipping them.

"You really think I'm letting you alone? No way, I will help and protect you from now on."

As he drew the sword I just gave him, he looked amazed at the blade.

"I have used one-handed longs words because you had told me before this game you liked them so much. This one is a bit heavier then the one I used before but it feels good. Really powerful."

"It is for your level. I am using this one now." I said while unsheathing the Exidator on my back.

He looked at it and his eyes were opening wide. I gave it to him and after he was used to the weight he started to swing it a little.

"This is really a powerful sword. Where can I get one for myself?"

"I got it from a monster drop. So I can't help you with that. But I know someone who can make you a sword almost as good as this one. One that is more soothed for your level."

"That would be good too. Thanks bro." he said while raising his right fist.

I bumped it with my own. As he turned around towards the teleport gate, a large group of players walked towards us. They were all wearing a lot of armor and it looked like they were from the guild called the Army. As we wanted to give them space, they turned and surrounded us.

"You, Crimson will now join the Army. And you stranger will too. If you don't accept this rare offer, we will use force to make you accept." Said the one wearing the most armor.

I stopped Crimson as he wanted to say something and took a few steps towards the one who just spoke.

"I don't know who you are, but this is your one chance to turn around and walk away. And let this be a warning for the next time. If you or your guild ever force other players again into your guild, I will find you and your leader and make that sure."

The entire guild started to laugh but I kept my look towards that player.

"That a city is a safe zone doesn't mean I can't attack you. Have you ever felt how scary an inner area fight can be?" he asked while drawing his sword.

"Have you?" I asked.

"I have warn you." He said while attacking me.

I drew one of my throwing knives, hold it backwards and moved in. I stopped just before my knife hit his throat. He stopped and the entire guild understand what was going on. By defeating him with a simple knife, showed how much stronger I was than him.

They didn't know how fast they had to run away but it didn't take long for the entire guild was gone.

I looked over and saw Crimson standing there, his eyes filled with shock.

"Shall we go?" I replied calm and started walking towards the transport gate.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: **_thank you for all the reviews and PMs. Still the question remaining is if the story will continue with Alfheim Online or it will stop after the game is cleared. I have had reasons for both but non clear opinion in this matter. Please tell me so I can work up to that decision. _

_Also chapters 11 and 12 may get delayed a little. I am working between 14 and 18 hours a day at the moment and 6 days a week. Because of that, writing is held a little bit back. Before I started uploading, the first 5 chapters were written and I always wrote 2 chapters ahead of what I uploaded, but now I am not. The moment this chapter is finished and uploaded is a few minutes after it is completed and I will try to do the same with the next chapters but as I said, it can be a little later then usual. Still I hope you will enjoy it and will understand I am doing everything I can to let the story stay active with daily updates. _

**Chapter 10**

In a few weeks, Crimson was already level 65 and got a lot stronger. He now knew how to use sword skills the right way and how to raise the other skills. It didn't take long before he mastered the one-handed sword.

"Now tell me more about that knife you used against that Army player."

He had asked it before, but I said he had to wait until he could focus on that skill. I took out one throwing knife out of the pocket on my upper leg and held it in my hand.

The knife in my hand was a light weighted blade with a slightly bigger open circle as handle.

"This is a throwing knife. The circle is meant as the handle. The hole is big enough for your finger, meaning that is how you draw them. If you hide them well, the only thing people will see are the circles and most will think there just decoration of your clothes." I gave the knife to him.

"It's really light. How can you fight with this?"

"You don't. You throw it. In a sword battle, it won't help you."

"Then why did you use it against the Army then?"

"To merely scare him. By doing that I showed him that he is no match for me. My speed with drawing and moving it to his throat was because of my speed stats. Since he couldn't follow my movements, it showed that my level is that much higher than his. Secrecy is important in this world. Never tell people what your level is or which skills you are using. The best thing is to not even show them your sword or the sword skills you use with them. Only tell them to people you trust, knowing it won't be turned against you."

"Have you told someone? You said before that you are solo, does that mean you don't have friends?"

"I do have friends Crimson. And yes, some of them know some. One more than the other but that's just of common interest. Except one, there all front line players so they will see some of the skills on the battle field and that's why I didn't hid some for those people."

"It sounds like being on the front line means a close group of players."

"No that's not true. To be honest, I'm only friends with around 4 people on the front lines and only 2 know some skills. One of them knows more."

"Like what skill?"

"Well…" I was thinking if it was alright to tell him.

"Come on! I'm your brother! If you can't tell me, how secret is this skill?"

"Alright then. Watch closely." I turned around and switched the swords on my back. Then I showed Dual Blades.

"How did you do that? And Dual Blades? That is amazing!"

"It is an extra skill. It let me switch swords and gives me the option to use Dual Blades. But I don't know more about it, it appeared around 5 months ago."

As we talked about the extra skill more and changed it into his skills again, I got a message. It was from an information broker I usually ask for ask if I need information. I haven't asked him so it was weird he send me a message.

As I was reading it my eyes opened up. Kirito has a dual with Heathcliff? Why? I have read in the paper that his Dual Blade skill was exposed because he had to use it to defeat the boss on the 74th floor. Was this because of that?

"I have to go to the 75th floor. A friend is having a dual, and that's not something me normally would do." I said to Crimson who was looking at me.

"Then let me come with you. If it is in the city, it will be alright."

"Sure. Why not. Let me send a message real quick and then we go."

I send a message towards my information broker and we went on our way.

After we arrived at the floor we asked around. We found out the dual would be held later this day. As we walked towards the place the dual would take place, I spotted Asuna walking my way and walked up to her.

"He Asuna. What happened?" I asked.

"Exia, so glad to see you. Can you talk some sense into him?" She asked with a tired voice.

"It would help if I knew what happened." I asked again.

"Well, we were mapping the 74th floor and …. Who are you?" She spotted Crimson.

"Oh sorry. This is my little brother." I said.

"Hello, I'm Ben. And may I say you are really beautiful?"

"Crimson, you are Crimson. Never say your real name idiot! And you don't want to hit on her, she can defeat you with her eyes closed. So don't do that." I said quickly after seeing Asuna's face turned red. Not from embarrassment but from anger.

"I'm sorry for his behavior. He still needs a lot to learn." I said while bowing my head.

"It's fine. This time he gets away with it. But is he really your brother? I'm sorry for asking about that world but you haven't told about him before, that's why I'm asking." She asked surprised.

"He forgot about me." Crimson joked.

"Don't you say that ever again, you said you probably weren't going to try this game. But yes, he is my real brother, and I didn't know he was here until a few weeks ago when I read his name in the paper."

"I see. But back to topic. I wanted to take a temporally leave from the guild and the commander didn't want that. Instead he wanted to have a dual with Kirito. If Kirito wins, I can leave the guild. If he loses, he has to join the KoB."

"Wow, I didn't expect that. But it does sound like him."

"That's true. But what should I do?"

"He accepted this dual, so I think you maybe just have to let it happen."

"Maybe your right. I have to go now. Will you watch the dual?"

Yeah, we will. Maybe he can learn something from it." I said while pointing towards Crimson.

"Wish him good luck from me." I said after that.

"I will. Bye." She said while walking away.

Me moved towards the stadium and bought tickets to see it. I wanted to see as much as possible and bought expensive front seats. We waited and soon we saw them moving on the field.

The dual was really entertaining. Until the moment Kirito activated his Starburst Stream, the dual was really evenly matched. But Heathcliff's defense was really something else. Then something happened.

With one of his swords, he blown back Heathcliff's shield and with his other sword Heathcliff's sword, leaving a gab for a strike. The moment Kirito took advantage of that gab the weirdest thing happened.

Heathcliff's shield was there to block Kirito's sword. That couldn't be possible, Kirito just blew it away. Kirito himself was thinking about that too as he was too shocked to react and was hit by Heathcliff's sword, losing the dual.

I thought about it for some time but couldn't think of any reason why he was so quick with defending. Even that evening, when I was training with Crimson in a dungeon, I couldn't stop thinking about it. Every time I needed to defend myself, I tested the fastest way possible to do it. But I couldn't copy it. I knew something was off about him.

The next day I left Crimson in the city and went to the HQ of the KoB. I requested a private conversation with Heathcliff with as reason our meeting in the dungeon a couple of weeks ago. He accepted it and we walked towards the meeting room which was empty now.

"I will cut to the case. I request a dual, held and kept in private."

"And why should I accept?" He replied.

I turned around and spread my arms. I showed him my extra skill by switching swords and equipping Dual Blades.

"This is why. I was the player who survived that trap that day." I said.

"I will agree on our dual. But if you lose, you will join the KoB. Do we agree?"

"I have one condition. I recently learned my little brother is in this game. I want to have him close to me until the day this game is cleared. So if I join, he joins as well and will be close to me. I want all freedom to train and protect him."

"A player is strongest if he wants to protect something so I agree."

"Then I am fine with it. My conditions for winning will be said after the fight."

"That wouldn't be necessary." He replied with confidents.

We decided to hold the dual the next day, late in the evening to avoid players as we both wanted it in secret. After that, I walked out and took Crimson to a dungeon to train him and test some moves I wanted to use on Heathcliff. I wanted to make sure, Heathcliff's defense was raised by himself our that the system backed him up. I didn't say anything about the dual, he only knew I wanted to challenge him and if I would lose, be both would be joining them.

It was deep into the night when we walked out of the dungeon and that moment a message popped up saying I have an unread message. It was from Asuna and Kirito, saying they got married. I send one back, saying I'm sorry for my late respond, congratulating them and wishing them all the luck.

The next morning, I trained some more, perfecting my battle plan. I knew I was going to succeed what Kirito couldn't, beat him. In the afternoon, I let Crimson stay behind in the inn, and I slowly moved towards the place Heathcliff wanted. I took my time, eating on my own place, defeating monsters on my way and thinking about my battle plan over and over again. After I arrived at the place. I took my position and waited on him. Around 30 minutes later, he arrived and stayed outside the ring for a minute. After he saw me standing on my spot he moved to his and took his place. We both checked our surroundings, making sure no one was watching us. After we were sure, he opened the menu and selected the dual option.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" He asked with a confidence smile on his face.

"Are you?" I asked while accepting the dual.

We drew our weapons, he his sword and shield, me my Exidator and Sentinel Repulsor, and took our pose. The timer was counting down and the moment it reached zero, I kicked off with my right foot and moved in for the attack.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: **_Thank you all again for all PMs. Because of that I decided to continue with Alfheim Online after SAO is cleared if I get a good idea for it. To have an angle into it isn't a problem, it is was is happening after that. So I am still thinking about it. _

_Quickly about PMs and reviews, I am very happy if you send me one of those, but please put in a little more information then: __Oh wow, really? __If you have something to say about the story, then say it. Say what you want, ask what you want. I will respond to you and tell you why I did that. If you think I made a mistake, tell me. If I think I didn't, we can talk about it and find out if I did make one or I didn't. _

_For those who couldn't wait for this chapter to come out, I gave up on the 5 hours of sleep I could have this night and wrote this chapter. I hope you will enjoy it. If you will excuse me, I will try to use the 2 hours I have left until I have to go to work, to get some sleep. _

**Chapter 11**

I hit his sword with my first attack and blocked his sword with mine as he tried to counter. I noticed his moves were different from his fight with Kirito, almost as if he wanted to hide something. I have consider this and changed my attacks too the one's Kirito used. It didn't take him long before he used the same movements as that dual and my plan was working. To confirm it, I used some moves of my own and he stayed in that movement so I know I had him.

There was no way to test it before, so I had to do it right in one go. I focused even harder as I was getting ready to defeat him. The only thing in my mind right now were my swords and his sword and shield. This was it, it was now or never.

I activated the Starburst Stream and moved in. Just as Kirito had, with hit 13 I knocked back his shield and with hit 14 his sword. I moved into the gab just as Kirito had done, but I knew what would happen so I was ready.

Instead aiming for his body with the 15th hit of my 16-hit combo, I aimed slightly to the right, were his shield would appear. If I was right, my sword skill won't get deflected and ended as Kirito had, but continue as I had aimed for it.

Just as my sword was about to hit his shoulder, the shield was instantly there to block it, as I predicted. Because of the hit on the shield, my body turned against the clock to his right. I attacked with the 16th and final hit of my combo to his unprotected back as he had no idea I had planned this.

But just before it hit, again was the shield there with a speed not possible. It blew me back and I landed cleanly on my feet some distance away from him. As he turned with a shocked impression, I slowly got up from my pose and sheathed my swords.

"I think we both can agree that I won this battle." I said calm, knowing I wasn't wrong.

"And why do you say that?" he asked, still with that shocked impression on his face.

"The reason I asked for a private dual was because I suspected something and I just had the chance to confirm those." I said still calm.

"And what are those?"

"You aren't a player like me. You have the system to back you up, meaning you're a GM at least."

"How…"

"So, because I won, I will tell you my victory conditions. Because you're a GM, you will know what I want to know. Because I won, you will answer my questions with the truth. Otherwise, your secret will be known to all and you have to deal with that."

"I understand and will confess I am indeed a GM. I will answer all questions that I can."

"First thing I want to know, to me maybe one of the important of them all. I want to know more about the extra skill Sword Birth. Why did I get it as a gift from Argus and why does it let me copy other extra skills as Dual Blades?"

"I have to ask you one thing before I can answer that. Were you the same person that had won the chance to play the beta for 1 day at our main office?"

"Yes I was that person."

"Then you are using now the Nerve Gear you had received that day, is that right?"

"Yes that is right. What does it have to do with my question?"

"I will tell you. That Nerve Gear you got as a present, was the Nerve Gear we used for testing in the early days of the Cardinal system. We created the extra skill Sword Birth and saved it into that Nerve Gear to be able to use and test the other extra skills as Dual Blades and Holy swords. That program should had been deleted before you received that present. But since that didn't happen, you are able to use an extra skill with all other extra skills build into it. Even the extra skills that we deleted before releasing this game. Let me ask you something, your throwing knifes, when you were leveling them up, was it easy and can you still throw a knife dead on the point your aiming at even if there is some distance?"

I was shocked by what he told.

"Yeah I can. If I want, I can throw a knife just between your shield and the ground, even if it just a few centimeters." I said.

"That is because of the extra skill Knife Assault. It was an extra skill that let you throw knifes better then someone who had mastered the skill. We deleted it since it was no longer needed to carry a sword if that skill was used. But because of Sword Birth, you are able to use it. The same is with the skill Stealth, you were able to easy level it up because of Stealth Shadow, also a deleted skill."

He stopped a moment to let it sink in.

"The reason you can switch swords was the only unique thing that could be done with the skill, but for testing the others were added. Like how you can switch skills, that's because of the extra skill Skilled Sword. The fact that you have to only train one kind of sword to master all is Sword Army. That was also the first we deleted. Because if you had mastered the one-handed sword and switched to a two-handed our axe, you had mastered that also."

"If all those skills are deleted, how can I still use them?"

"We founded out that it was no problem to delete the skills separately but it became a problem if we deleted Sword Birth or parts from it. Because all extra skills came from there, deleted it made all other extra skills useless. So we set it that no player would receive it like Dual Blades is rewarded to the player with the highest reaction time. The only requirement we set was level 72, that way the system wouldn't be able to give it to a player. But because it was saved into your Nerve Gear, it was activated and you are able to use it now."

I thought for a moment to make sure I had it all right and understand most of it.

"So if I have this right, I can use all this skills because this extra skill was used for testing. And because of the testing I can only use 70% of the skill, instead of the full control as the real extra skill can. The only thing I can fully use is the part of switching swords because it was meant for only that. Does that also mean that because of Sword Army, if I equip a shield, the extra skill Holy Sword will be mastered just like Dual Blades?"

"If you have Dual Blades mastered, the yes, Holy Sword will be mastered too. But remember, those are the only extra skills you can do that with. As the system is set up now, those 2 are the only extra skills available that support a skill slot."

I looked through my inventory and found a simple shield I have kept to try it out one day. I haven't been able to test it out, but I wanted to do that in case I needed that on floor higher up, because the game was getting harder and harder to defeat.

The moment I equipped the shield, the Sentinel Repulsor on my left shoulder disappeared and in the lower left corner of my vision appeared my skill list. It swapped out Dual Blades with Holy Sword and disappeared after that.

As I was paying attention to that, I haven't realize Heathcliff was moving. He came towards me with his sword aimed for me. Since I only had the shield in my hand, I reacted with it and blocked his sword.

"As you can see, Holy Sword not only increases your own defense, but also increases your shield. Normally a shield as low as yours should break the moment I made contact with it, but thanks to the skill, it is strong enough to block the attack. But I wasn't going all out, if I did, the shield wouldn't have blocked the sword." He said while moving back again.

"Are you kidding me? The next time you do something like that, I will move in and kill you. If you want to show me something, let me know first!"

"I am sorry, let me make it up to you by giving you a shield as strong as your sword." he said while opening the menu.

The trade window that appeared in front of me showed the shield be promised me. It was called Zero Raiser. I accepted the trade and the window disappeared again. I wanted to test something so I tried to use the extra skill to change the shield in my hand for the Sentinel Repulsor in my inventory.

The shield disappeared from my hand and the sword appeared on my back. In the lower left of my vision the skill list popped up again, switching Holy Sword for Dual Blades.

"We didn't know that the skill was able to do that. That is interesting." Heathcliff said.

"I didn't know if it was possible but I gave it a try. It seems that it is possible. That would get in handy for fights. If I have to switch to defends, I can do that without problem."

Now I tried to switch with the new shield I just got. The shield that appeared was completely different then what I expected. It was a long shield but instead of having its handle in the middle, it was placed higher.

The shield was strapped to my lower arm, because of that it was almost an extension of my lower arm. Its upper point was just below my elbow but because of it length, its tip almost touched the ground when I had my arm beside me. Its weight was just a little lower then it from my swords, making it very easy to move around.

"As you can see, the tip of the sword is a sharp point. You can use that to attack with the sword. As you will find out if you use it more often, there are sword skills you can do with that shield to defend as well as attack. If this was all, will you excuse me? I have to get back." He said.

"For now it is, but if I want to know more, I will contact you. And since you have been honest with me, your secret is safe with me. If you send me a message when the next boss fight will be, I will join the battle."

"I would like that. Good night and thank you for the interesting fight."

"Thank you as well and good night to you too."

I went towards to closest dungeon and wanted to try this shield out. It took me 3 hours but after that I knew a lot about the shield and Holey Sword. The tip of the shield was formed like the tip of a blade, but was sealed inside the shield. If you activated a sword skill unique to Holy Sword, the tip would move out of the shield by a few centimeters, showing its sharp edges. It wasn't meant to serve as a sword, but to defend if someone attacked you and damage theme in the process.

That was really handy in a fight but it had a downside. Because of the shape of the shield, if you defend yourself from an attack from the front, the shield could be blocking your vision.

But this could help all the players a lot. If there is a boss fight with a high attack power, I can switch to defending and stop attacks, leaving the others to attack. If a boss has a high defense power, I switch to attack and use Dual Blades. I understand why they deleted it. This was maybe too much power for any player to have.

"No that's not true." I said to myself.

"In this Death Game there is no such thing as too much power. You will use it to support all players still alive and mostly Ben and your friends. Making sure that Kirito and Asuna will be alive. It is possible Asuna is the same level as you or even lower, but Kirito isn't. He is the strongest player, he will be the one to defeat the final boss. You can only wish to be alive long enough to help him with it." I said to myself while walking back towards the closest town.

I moved the shield back to my inventory and took the teleport gate. I headed towards the Inn Crimson was in and when I opened the door, he was waiting for me.

We both talked a little about what we should do the next day, since I didn't want to talk about the dual. Soon after that we both went to our room and laid on the beds. I looked over to him.

"I promise you that I will make sure you will return alive from this world." I said.

I knew he had heard it. But I didn't waited for a response and fall into a deep sleep.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

It was already a week after my dual with Heathcliff, and I nearly had Holy Sword figured out. First I could only extend the sharp point of the shield with a sword skill, but now at will. The key to that was changing my skill for defending. I had used Sword Defense, the skill that let you use defending sword skills, because I didn't had a shield. But now I did, I equipped Shield Control and because I had mastered Sword Defense, this skill was mastered too.

"If this game is over, I never use this Nerve Gear again. It feels like cheating, doing it like this." I whispered to myself.

"What did you say?" Crimson asked.

"Nothing. Don't worry about it."

"Alright then. But one question. Why did you start using a shield after your dual with Heathcliff?"

"First of all, never talk about that dual. And second, I knew he had this shield to spare. I wanted it. As you see, its defense is really high. Aiming for the floors still to come, I may need it."

"I see. Then do you also have a shield for me?"

"Why do you need a shield? You are doing fine without it."

"So you can use a shield, but let me die in boss fights?"

"What? You're not fighting on the front line and especially a boss fight. Are you crazy? You have no real experience in fighting."

"I can defeat these monsters just fine so a boss should be easy."

"No it's not. A boss is 10 times more powerful, maybe even more. A monster you can defeat on your own, for a boss you need a large group filled with high level players who have experience on fighting bosses because they are totally different then monsters."

"Alright then. But how can I help clearing this game if you don't let me get the experience?"

"You want to fight a boss? Fine then, come with me. I will take you to a weak mid-level boss. We will see how you handle that."

I was thinking of the dragon I defeated on the 55th floor. His level should be high enough to survive it, and if he screw it up, I am there to save him. His level is a bit lower than mine was that time and he is using the same kind sword I was using back then, but the problem I ran into wasn't my level back then, it was the fact that the sword was damaged before I started fighting. Thanks to Lizbeth's repair, that sword was stronger than before so should be able to do it.

We walked towards the teleport gate and went to the 55th floor. We walked up the mountain and I noticed Crimson was getting exited. Maybe even to exited.

"Scared?" I said calm

"Of course not. I will show you that I will defeat this mid-boss with one hand on my back."

"Then be ready for a big surprise. I was just a few levels above you when I challenged this mid-boss and I had a hard time against it." I wasn't planning on telling him why that was.

"You are kidding right?" He seemed scared now.

"No I am not. You must never underestimate an opponent. That will get you killed."

When we reached the top of the mountain, the dragon was on the far edge, waiting for us.

"Stay calm. Think about what I learned you. Focus and you will be fine." I said calm to him.

"What are his attacks?"

"I am not telling you. Most of the times we challenge a boss, we don't know that so show me that you can figure it out on your own."

"And if I don't?" he asked nervously.

"I will not let you die if that is what you think." I smiled at him to make him relax a little.

"Thank you for that. Well, here I go."

He drew his sword and walked towards the dragon. The dragon looked towards him and then back to me. Doing this over and over like he didn't understand who to target. I simply pointed my finger towards Crimson as a joke but it seemed the dragon understood it as he now looked only at Crimson.

He roared and Crimson took a step back. The dragon saw his chance and launched its breath attack. It was hard for me to only watch, since it totally conflicted with the idea of saving my brother. I kept thinking about that one hit won't kill him but gladly Crimson dodged the attack.

As he moved in with a charge sword skill, he hit the belly of the dragon. But then he made a mistake. I have told him so many times, but he keeps forgetting. If you don't know your opponents moves, use hit and run tactics to learn them before moving in and launch a multi-hit combo.

Because Crimson forgot about that, the claw of the dragon hit him on the side, making him lose a lot of HP. As the other claw moved in to finish the job, I made my move. I blocked the attack with the shield in my hand. As the dragon tried to attack again with its claw, I extended the sharp point on the shield and activated the sword skill Shield Strike, a weaker uppercut sword skill but great for knocking back your enemy to gain time to build up to an attack.

It launched the dragon into the air, leaving a lot of space between us. I grabbed Crimson and jumped back.

"How many times do I have to keep repeating it? Hit and run if you don't know his moves!" I said angry to him.

"I'm sorry. Maybe you are right. I am not ready for a boss fight."

"Don't worry about that now. We will do this together. I will only defend and you do what I say. Understood?"

"Roger that." He said while getting back on his feet.

We moved in together. The dragon still high up in the air launched his breath attack again but it was nothing my shield couldn't handle. I expected the dragon to lower his height but he didn't. He stayed high in the air, so we could not attack him. But he also wasn't attacking us.

"Come on! For old times. I won't kill you this time, I promise." I screamed towards it.

The dragon reacted to move his head backwards. It looked almost as if he was laughing. That shouldn't be possible. But the dragon slowly moved towards the ground and landed softly.

"Did you understand me?" I asked slowly by surprise.

The dragon looked right at me, not showing a reaction or attacking me. This was getting weird but it seemed the dragon was cooperating with me. I had heard there are some monsters able to become familiars, almost as pets, but I never heard of a boss showing this behavior.

I showed Crimson some moves for attacking without hitting the dragon and because of that, the dragon didn't attacked me. And when I did ask him to attack, he attacked without hitting me. He also did this if Crimson was close to him.

An hour past and when we planned on leaving, I walked up to the dragon.

"Thank you for this." I bowed my head thanking him.

The dragon let out a small roar and bowed his head as well. After that we walked away, not knowing what exactly had happened.

"You're sword is damaged a little, and my weapons need some look at too. Let's go to a blacksmith I know."

I thought of Lizbeth a lot lately. When I left her, we hadn't decided what we should do with the kiss we had. Had she made a decision? I really liked her, but I didn't know if it was love I felt. And was it only in this world or can we continue after this game is cleared? Those things ran through my mind as we walked towards her shop.

As we arrived, the shop was empty. The only one behind the counter was the NPC that handled it so she must be in the workshop.

"Wait here a second alright?" I asked Crimson as I moved towards the door to the workshop.

As I opened the door, I noticed her sitting on her chair inside the shop. She was reading something in the menu.

"Can I come in?" I asked.

She surprised looked up, seeing me at the door.

"Sure, come in." she said while getting up.

I walked up to her.

"It has been some weeks now, how are you?" I asked.

"Business is doing great. A slow day now but I don't mind it. It gives me time to order materials and to make weapons for the shop. And you? I know you found your little brother, is he alright?"

"Yeah he is doing great. I am training him now so he can walk around freely on the upper floors."

"That's good to hear, but you haven't said how you have been."

"Well… to be honest, I have missed you." I said while my face was turning red. She was blushing as well.

"I missed you to. I really want to give it a shot with you. I hope you would like that too."

"I would really like that. But I have to confess that I am not sure how I feel. I am afraid that what I feel is because of this world and I don't want to hurt you if it turns out that way."

"It doesn't matter. We will find that out together." She placed her hands in mine as we looked in each other eyes. Then we kissed.

A simple knock on the door broke our connection.

"Exia, how long are you planning on staying in there?" Crimson asked.

"That is my brother. Let me introduce you." I said, still holding her hand.

"Come on in." she said and Crimson opened the door.

He didn't realize that we were holding hands until he stood in front of me.

"Again something you haven't told me. How many secrets do you have?" he asked with a smile.

"Lizbeth, this is my brother Crimson. Crimson, this is Lizbeth."

"Nice to meet you. You have a beautiful shop."

"Thank you. It is nice to meet you too. What brings you to my shop?"

"I thought Exia wanted to come here for repairs, but it seems that you were the reason."

"Then why don't you give me your sword. I will repair it. It seems his reason for coming here is already done."

We started laughing. As she repaired and polished our swords, I couldn't take my eyes of her. This was the first time that this game made me feel truly happy for being here. I didn't even care that Crimson as a joke, talked with Lizbeth that he thought she was a bad influence on me because he never had saw me like this.

As it was getting late in the evening, Lizbeth offered Crimson the guest room and we sat down on the cough. It felt wrong every time my hand left her so we kept them locked in to each other.

"Crimson told me you started using a shield a week ago. Since when are you using a shield instead of Dual Blades?"

"It is kind of a long story. But yes." I said while showing the shield I just equipped.

"I never seen a shield like this. That point looks really sharp."

I extended it and the tip moved out by a few centimeters.

"I can also attack with it. The attack won't do much damage but will create a kickback, creating time for me to start attacking. I'm still training it, because I can switch swords, I can easily switch to Dual Blades if needed. That is why I gave it a shot."

"Is that the long story?"

"No it is not. But if you want to hear it, let me start from the beginning."

I told her everything. From the dual I saw from Kirito to the dual I had with Heathcliff. I even told her everything he had told me. About the extra skill Sword Birth and everything about it. Even things I never had said to anybody before, were told to her. I knew she would keep them secret.

After that we kissed again. She put her head on my shoulder as we slowly talked about small things and soon we both fall asleep. Right there on the cough.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

When I woke up, she was still lying in my arms. When I looked at the time, I saw it was 8 am, but I didn't want to get up yet. Slowly moving my left arm, I opened the menu. I checked if she was still asleep and checked my inventory and skill list. On there were a few items I could sell, but my eyes focused on 2 items I found. It were the 2 S-class ingredients for food I got when I defeated the dragon.

Thinking about the dragon, I remembered the strange thing that happened with the dragon yesterday. It acted as it was my familiar, understanding me and helping me. Should I ask Heathcliff why that was? He is a GM so maybe he will know.

I decided to ask him and sent him a message with that question. After I was finished with the whole story and sending it to him, I saw it was already 9.30 am.

"Lizbeth, you should wake up now. It is past openings time of your shop." I said slowly.

"What? What time is it?" she slowly got up with a sleepy voice.

She looked around and started noticing where she was.

"Did we sleep here?" she asked with a small smile on her face.

"Yeah we did. How did you sleep?"

"It has been a long time that I slept this good."

"Me too."

I looked into her eyes and the warm feeling I had was still there. I moved closer and started to kiss her. She was thinking the same thing as she moved closer to me too.

"Come on. Get a room."

We looked towards the voice and noticed Crimson standing there irritated. We couldn't help but to laugh at him.

After we had breakfast, I got a reply from Heathcliff. He wanted to meet me in person to talk more about it. I sent him that it was alright and I would go to him later this day.

"You know what would be nice? A nice steak." Crimson said.

We were talking about what to do for dinner but we couldn't figure out what. If you wanted to have a nice dinner in this world, you had to cook it yourself. But non on us had raised our cooking skill. Even I had no experience with non-battle skills so I couldn't had raised one.

"I just remembered earlier, I do have 2 S-Class ingredients. Do you know someone who can cook them?" I said.

"The only one I know is Asuna." Lizbeth replied.

"I know that, but isn't it rude to ask her now she is on her honeymoon with Kirito?"

"She had asked me to come over for a day to see their house at the lake. I could ask if they would like to have a dinner together. Especially since you have 2 S-Class ingredients, those are the best from what I have heard."

"That is true. You can always ask. But if you do, don't forget to mention that we bring a pig." I pointed at Crimson.

"Hey!" He replied laughing.

"I will do that. Will you be gone long?"

"I don't think so. Maybe a couple of hours but I will let you know if it takes longer. Will you let me know what Kirito and Asuna said?"

"Sure."

I kissed her and walked towards the door.

"Wait a sec. What am I going to do if you leave?" Crimson said.

"Good that you mention that." I opened the menu and selected some items and send it to him.

"What are these?"

"Materials for swords. If you behave yourself and ask nicely, maybe Lizbeth will make you a better and stronger sword."

"Will you Lizbeth?" he asked.

"If you are a good boy then I don't mind. But you have to do some shopping for it."

"Serious? Is it much?" he asked disappointed. I knew he hated to do something he wasn't motivated for, which made it funnier for me.

"If you want a strong sword like me, you have to do something for it. Think of it like training. It may help."

"Fine then. I will do it." He said.

"I'm running late, so I will see you later."

I walked out of the door and headed for the gate. It didn't take me long to reach the HQ of the KoB and asked for Heathcliff. Apparently he had told the guards that he was expecting me as I could walk right through.

"Hello Exia. How can I help you today?" he asked.

"You know why I am here. Do you have an idea why it happened?"

"To be honest, I am not sure. Do you know about familiars?"

"Yes I do. But only that lower level monsters do that sometime. I never had heard a mid-level boss showing that behavior."

"Me neither, so I looked into it. But first, can I see the sword you were carrying that day?"

"It was the same one as I have right now." I removed the Sentinel Repulsor from my back and unsheathed it.

I was using that sword if I had a shield because it appeared those worked best together.

"I see. Is it true that this sword is called the Sentinel Repulsor?"

"That is true. What does it has to do with this?"

"Then I think I understand. This sword is made from the rare material called Dragon's Soul. I think the dragon recognized it and because you weren't attacking him with it, he felt connected. Meaning he felt a part of himself and didn't attack because of that. Almost the same as that some monsters are drawn to each other and attack in groups."

"So if I get this right, the reason he cooperated with me is because he felt I was like a dragon from the same kind as him?"

"You could say it like that, but yes that is true."

"I never thought of that. It does sounds logic if you think about it. But then another question that just popped into my mind, if that is alright with you?"

"Sure, what do you want to know?"

"That shield you had given me, what is it and how did you obtain it? And mostly, what is it made from?"

"That shield is made for me. Not in this game, but before that. Because we had no idea of what the guild would be like, we had made 2 different outfits and equipment. If a guild was made before I had the chance to make the KoB, with the colors red and white, we needed different equipment. That is why that shield is different. And to answer your second question, if you want to make it, you need to have 3 of the 4 different S-Class materials from dragons. This one is made from combining Flaming Dragon, Dragon Wing and Zero Dragon."

"That means the only dragon material you didn't use was the Dragon's Soul?"

"That is right. That is also why you sword feels stronger if you use it with the shield Zero Raiser. Isn't that why you asked?"

"That is true. Thank you for that information." I said while putting the sword on my back again.

"There is one thing I want in return. The KoB is close to find the boss room of this floor. When we do find it and planned the raid, I want you to join it."

"If you mean the raid then you can count on me. I won't join the KoB."

"You can't stay a solo player. Even with your skill, you need a guild to support you."

"I am not solo anymore. So you don't have to worry about me. Let me know when the raid is and thank you again." I said while turning around.

"Then if he joins, what will you do then?" He asked calm.

I turned around and grabbed a throwing knife from the pocket on my upper leg. He knew I couldn't hurt him in the safe zone but I didn't plan on doing that.

I threw the knife right before him on the table and dashed towards him, grabbing the knife and pulling it out of the table. I moved it to his neck.

"If you ever make him joining the KoB I will kill you. I know the system is backing you up but by revealing your secret, this whole guild of yours will fall apart, leaving you all alone and hated by all the players still alive." I said while keeping my voice as calm as possible.

"Understood." It was the only thing he said in response of my action.

I walked out of the HQ and went straight towards my favorite spot in this world. On floor 31 was a small lake that looked a lot like the lake near the house I grew up in. it was a spot I usually went if something was bothering me or was as angry as I was now.

I sat there for some time until I heard footsteps behind me. This was the first time that I knew someone else besides me came here and I slowly turned around. Lizbeth was walking towards me.

"I tracked you on the map and saw you coming here. Is something wrong?" she asked while sitting beside me.

I told her what Heathcliff had said about joining the KoB and what he had said about Crimson. She understand it was something that upsets me. His level is high enough to fight on the front lines so if he joins the KoB, they will order him to do that. Missing the experience needed for that, meant he would get killed.

"We need to hurry. It is already 4PM. We need to go to Asuna and Kirito." She broke the silence.

She pulled me up from the ground and kissed me. I felt all the anger leaving my body and started to walk after her. Crimson was waiting in the city and together we moved to the 22th floor, towards the house of Kirito and Asuna.

They were surprised to see me and Lizbeth holding hands but didn't ask about it. They welcomed Crimson as if they knew him for years, which relieved some stress I was having about that.

We stayed the rest of the day there. Having fun and even dueled. First me and Kirito, it was close since we both used Dual Blades but he won with a reaction faster than mine. Next up was Kirito against Asuna. Her speed was amazing and he lost. When Crimson challenged me, Kirito helped him with tips and he did great, but his lack in experience made him lose it. When it was my turn to fight Asuna I equipped my shield to try defending against her speed. It worked at first, but then she became serious and the battle was soon after that over. I made the mistake of thinking that I could counter but her skill wasn't finished. I tried attacking, creating a gab for her to attack me.

The time flew by and soon we noticed it was already past 3AM. We wanted to leave but weren't allowed. We were ordered to stay the night, but because there were no spare beds, we had to sleep on the cough and chairs. We didn't mind that and we continued talking and making fun. When the clock hit 5AM we decided that it was better to get some sleep.

But I couldn't sleep. Lizbeth and I were again as the night before laying against each other on the cough and I slowly lowered her as I got up. I walked outside and sat on the chair there that looked out on the large lake in front of the house.

"Can't sleep?" Said a voice from behind.

"No. I see you also have that problem." I said to Kirito who came walking towards me.

"A strange feeling is keeping me awake."

"I know what you mean. I was not sure if I was in this game our back there with friends. Talking and joking around, not thinking of the problems we will ran into tomorrow."

"You are right about that."

"I want to thank you for this evening. It was really nice."

"You brought the meat so thank you too."

"Let's do this again."

"Yeah, but then in the other world."

"I would like that."

We bumped out fist and both went inside again. When I sat down on the cough again, Lizbeth woke up. She looked at me and I smiled to her. She kissed me again and lay on my shoulder again and both fall asleep quickly after that.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: **_work is still crazy at the moment but I am working hard to let the story continue. Since it is near 5am here at this moment, and I have to be at work around 7, I hope you will understand the delay. The 14 to 16 hours of day are really destroying me at the moment but I will keep trying to update the story with new chapters on a daily bases. I can only hope you will understand if it get delayed a day if I can't find time to write. _

_Have fun with this chapter._

**Chapter 14**

We left after breakfast, because we didn't want to disturb their honeymoon even more. Me and Lizbeth walked in front, holding each other's hands. I noticed Crimson being quiet, he hadn't said a word after we left from Kirito and Asuna. I looked over my shoulder to look at him and saw him walking, looking at the ground. Lizbeth looked at me and turned around too to see where I was looking at.

"I think you need to spend some time with him." She whispered in my ear.

"I think you are right." I whispered back.

After a quick kiss, she let go of my hand and turned over to Crimson.

"Can you do me a favor?"

"What is it?" Crimson replied.

"Can you look after your brother? I forgot that I have an appointment for metals so I have to go."

"Oh. Then good luck with that. I will try to keep him out of trouble." A small smile appeared on his face.

Lizbeth ran towards the teleport gate and disappeared before our eyes.

"So… will you tell me why you feel so bad?" I asked.

"I'm fine. Worry about yourself." He reacted with an angry voice.

"Something is wrong. Normally you're never this quiet unless something is wrong. Is it Lizbeth?"

"No… well yes… I don't know."

"You do know, come on. If there is something, tell me. You're my little brother. So what is wrong with her?"

"It is not her. It's…"

"Is it me?"

"Yes… of no it is not you. Well it is you but…" he took a deep breath before continuing.

"It just… that I am… jealous of you…"

"How come?"

"Well… what you have with Lizbeth… I want that too and it hurts me to see that you can live here like that… almost as if the other world doesn't exist anymore."

"I didn't know that. I am sorry. If it hurts you that much, do you want me to break up with her?"

"Would you do that for me?"

"Yes I would. You're my little brother."

"How crazy are you? That girl has fallen completely for you and you for her and you would break up with her because I feel jealous? How stupid are you?"

"I would give my life up, if that would save you. You are my little brother. I would do anything for you. You are in this game because of me. It is my fault you are here. If I had canceled my reservation for SAO when I got the game from Argus, you would be at home. Safe."

"It isn't your fault that I am here, I decided to play that game. And if you ever dare to let go of something like Lizbeth or other things that makes your life better, I would kick you. You are alive, so live your life."

"But how about you? If you feel bad every time I am with Lizbeth, I am not happy."

"I will be fine. It is not that I'm not happy for you, it's just that I miss that feeling. Someday I will meet somebody that makes me feel the same way as you do. But promise me that you won't behave different with Lizbeth if I am around."

"I promise. But only if you promise me that if something is bothering you, you will talk about it."

"I promise. But how can I do that? You and Lizbeth are always together. It is she now has an appointment, otherwise she would be still here and we won't be talking."

"She doesn't have an appointment. She saw you felt bad and gave us the space to talk about it. She understands that there are times that you need me, just as that there are time that I need you. So don't worry about it, just say if you need me."

"She lied to me? To give us time? Again, if you ever let her go, I will smack you so hard and as many times until you realize how stupid you were to let that happen."

We laughed together. I stood up and spread my arms.

"Come on… you know you want it."

"Can't you ever behave normal? I'm not hugging you."

"You want it. Come on. Show some love for your big brother."

"What will all players think that will see it? Do you ever think about that?"

"Since when do we care? We never cared about that. We always did what we wanted, joke around and stuff like that."

He slowly got up and hugged me. "Thank you" was the only thing he said.

"Brothers for live remember?" I said while releasing him.

"Brothers for live." He said while hitting my fist with his.

As we were walking towards Lizbeth's shop, we joked around. We did the same things that we always had done before this game, having fun in or own way. We walked into the shop and saw Lizbeth standing behind the counter helping a customer. It didn't take long to finish and Crimson walked up to her after the customer had left.

"Thank you Lizbeth, for earlier."

"No problem. If you ever need something, don't be afraid to ask."

"I will. I know he can be weird from time to time, but deep in him is a good guy. Don't ever let him go."

"I won't. But I have something for you."

From behind the counter she pulled out a sword and gave it to him.

"Thank you. But why?" He asked surprised.

"Yesterday you gave me the metal and when I got back, I forged this sword from that metal. I know it won't match the Exidator but it is a really powerful sword."

As Crimson was admiring his new sword I walked up to him. I looked with him towards the sword and its stats. It was a really powerful sword. As he swung the sword from left to right, the smile on his face became bigger and bigger.

"It feels amazing. Exia, what do you think?" He asked while handing the sword over to me.

I put my hand on the handle and I could feel something. It were the emotions from Lizbeth towards him. She really cared for him and for that reason this sword would be able to do amazing things in his hands.

"For me this isn't a good fit. This is a sword made for you. And for you only."

"So you are saying this sword isn't that great?"

"For me it isn't. But for you it is. Because this is your sword. Made for you and only you. Creating a very strong connection between the player and his sword is important so you can get the maximum out of it."

"Now I get it. It is like the sword recognize me if I hold it. And because it is built for me, if you hold it, the sword would feel that it is not me."

"Yes that is it."

We talked about it for some time, and after dinner we decided that it was best to try the sword out the next day because we were all tired. He went towards the guest room, leaving Lizbeth and me alone in the living room.

"What was it that made him feel bad this morning?" She asked.

"Basically, he was jealous of us. Having found love in this world. But we talked about it and it is fine now."

"I am glad to hear that."

After some time of sitting against each other in silence, she got up, pulling me up with her. She slowly guided me towards her bedroom. We changed into our sleeping clothes quickly and got into the bed.

She placed her head on my chest and we fell asleep quickly after that. I had missed the softness of a bed but I also didn't want to sleep without Lizbeth. She kept the nightmares away. Nightmares I had for a long time thanks to this world.

When I slowly woke up the next morning, I opened my left I a little to peek at Lizbeth. I saw her staring at my face and couldn't help myself to quickly open both my eyes wide and saying 'BOE".

She got up really fast with her face turning red.

"I'm sorry… Good morning…. Should I make some breakfast?"

"I am sorry to scare you like that but I couldn't help myself. But I am not in a hurry today so why don't you lay down again? We still have some time and we deserve an easy morning from time to time."

"That is true." She slowly answered and placed her head on my chest again.

"Did I wake you up?" She slowly asked.

"Wake me up? I don't think so. Why do you ask?"

"Just like you said, you deserve a good night sleep. So after I woke up, I didn't wanted to wake you up."

"I slept like a baby. So you don't have to worry about that. Did you sleep well?"

"It has been a long time that I slept this nice."

She slowly raised her head and moved up towards me. Letting her lips find mine, we kissed. We didn't know why, but we couldn't stop. It was the only thing we could think of.

A simple knock on the door made us realize that it was already past dinner time, meaning we had spent the entire day in bed together.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: **_This chapter took me a little bit longer than I thought. Work is still crazy with days of 14 hours and some personal stuff is happening too. But as it looks now, both will calm down in a couple of days and Pease will return again. I am working hard to write the next chapters as the final chapter comes closer and closer. Enjoy. _

**Chapter 15**

I had no idea that being in a relationship requires this much planning. My evenings I wanted to spend with Lizbeth, so during the day I had to train with Crimson. We did it now this way for almost a week and it went fine. Mostly because Crimson took 2 days of from training so I could be with Lizbeth those days. But this day wasn't one of those.

He wanted to leave early today so we left the house around 8AM, but decided to eat breakfast first before taking the teleport gate, so we took place on the plaza, slowly eating our food.

"I think it is safe to say that things with Lizbeth are going great?" He asked.

"You can say that yes. Why do you ask?"

"Just curious. The mornings if you are together, you both leave the bedroom at the end of the morning or even later. You never did that before."

"We are just happy that we can spend some time together, that's all." I said laughing.

The arrival of a new visitor made us stop our conversation. The visitor looked around until it spotted me and walked my way.

"Good morning Exia. And who might this be?" Heathcliff asked.

"Good morning Heathcliff, this is Crimson. Crimson, this is Heathcliff, leader of the KoB."

"Good morning sir." Crimson replied to Heathcliff.

"I see. I can assume that this is your brother Exia?"

"That is right." I replied.

"Good to meet you Crimson. You look really powerful. I am glad to see you are doing this good in this game."

"Thank you sir." Crimson replied.

"What brings you here Heathcliff?" I asked.

"I came to see you. Can we talk in private or don't you mind that your brother hears it?"

"That depends. What do you want to talk about?"

"The next boss fight."

"Then he can hear it. Did they find the boss room?"

"No not yet, but we are close. There isn't much space left to explore so we should find it this day or tomorrow. After that, we send in a recon group to look at the boss. My question is if you would like to join the recon group?"

"To be honest, no I won't. I will join the raid but I have no intension of joining the recon."

"That doesn't matter as long you can help with the raid. But during that fight, will you attack or defense if I may ask?"

"I will see then. During the meeting before the raid, I will listen to the information and will see then. Since I have room to switch, it doesn't really matter."

"That is true. Thank you for your answer and I will contact you when we plan the raid."

"That is alright."

"If I may ask one more thing, Crimson, with your strength we could really use you on the front line. May I ask why you aren't?"

I knew what he was trying to do. I braced myself but it wasn't needed.

"I lack the experience needed for that. Yes I am strong, but experience is needed to be able to survive on the front line. I am training hard so maybe I will join them someday." Crimson calmly answered.

"I understand. If it is experience you miss, why don't you join the KoB? We will get you those in no time and even make you stronger then you can dream of. We also have a lot of beautiful girls in our guild."

What I was afraid of happened. Heathcliff tried to convince Crimson to join the KoB and didn't mind using the dirtiest tricks to get him. As I looked over to look at Crimson, I could see him thinking about the offer. I stood up and grabbed a throwing knife from my upper leg.

"Didn't I warn you about this? Or did you forget it already?" I said angry while standing directly in front of him.

"I didn't forget it, but I need someone for in the recon group."

"And you really think I will join the recon now? Maybe you should think this trough."

"Oh I have. It is really simple. Or you join the recon group, or he will. That isn't hard right?"

"And what else are you going to do if I refuse?"

"I don't think the other players will be happy with you cheating."

"And I don't think you want me to tell them about you. So what will it be?"

"That is something for you to decide. The recon group will be ready at HQ in 2 hours from now. Make sure you are there before then. Otherwise players will gang up on you after the raid. And if you don't join the raid, they will know just before it. Choose wisely."

"I will. But maybe you should watch your back too."

He slowly walked away and took the gate. The moment he was completely gone, I put the knife back in my pocket and turned to Crimson. He sat there in shock, trying to understand what just happened.

"Why did you do that?" He started.

"I won't let you join the KoB. Your level is high enough for the front line so they will put you there right away. You won't survive that."

"But now you have to join the recon. And if you don't, he will tell them you are a cheater."

"I won't join the recon. I know too much about him, so he is just bluffing."

"And if he isn't? What do you know about him that makes you think that?"

"It is better that you don't know that. But we will see after the next boss raid. It doesn't help to worry about that now."

"I… I understand. Do you mind that we won't train now? I am not in the mood."

"I know. To be honest, I am not in the mood either. Let's go back."

We slowly moved back towards Lizbeth's Shop. She was surprised to see us back so soon and we decided to talk about it later. I decided to take a nice bath and walked into the bathroom.

After around 10 minutes a small knock came from the door.

"Exia. Is it alright if I come in?" Lizbeth asked.

"Sure." I replied surprised and quickly took a lot of soap to cover myself up.

Because the door wasn't locked, she opened it and closed it behind her. She slowly moved to the small chair next to the bath and sat down.

"Crimson told me what happened."

"I see." I said surprised.

"I understand why you did this. But are you sure it is the right way? I do know that if he says anything about you, you will say things that will damage his reputation more. But still. If it is true what you told me before, is it really smart to challenge him like that?"

"I don't know. I think he is bluffing but I can be wrong. But I won't let him hurt Crimson. And he doesn't control me. I won that dual so I didn't had to join the KoB, so he isn't my boss. I will join the raid, and if it is needed use Sword Birth to switch to the Holy Sword or Dual Blades. I don't mind if they find that out anymore. I will use anything to defeat this game and to make sure you and Crimson will return to the other world alive. I promise you."

A tear dropped from her eye after I had said that.

"I trust you and will believe in you." She said before walking out of the bathroom.

When I exited myself and walked in the living room I noticed Crimson sitting there with his face pointed towards the ground.

"I am sorry for telling her but I didn't know what else to do." He slowly said.

"It doesn't matter. You did right so stop worrying know. It will be fine, I promise."

As he looked up to me, a small smile appeared on his face.

"You also said that when you offered me your second copy of this game."

"You are still alive so did I lie?" I said while smiling back to him.

We both laughed. The rest of the day we helped Lizbeth around the shop. Testing swords she made and stuff like that. Everything was fine and we forgot about what happened in the morning. That was until I received a message later that day. It was from Heathcliff.

"The boss room has been found. Halve of the recon team had entered the room and the door closed behind them. After 5 minutes the door opened again and the 10 that had entered had died. The raid will be in 4 hours, gathering is at the teleport gate plaza of the 75th floor."

Lizbeth had read it with me and we both were stood there. Crimson was outside and didn't know I had this messages.

"If I have to believe this message, the boss is really strong and you can't escape the room." She said.

"And we don't have any information or attack patterns. So we will go in blank."

"Do you have to go?"

"I think I do. They could use my extra skill. I can attack with 2 sword if it is needed or take defense with a really strong shield for that."

"What will you tell Crimson?"

"Maybe it is better if he doesn't know too much about this. He was really worried about what happened this morning so if he hears about this, he will be worried again."

"That is true."

We checked my equipment together and repaired or polished if it was needed. I checked my map so track Kirito so see if he was joining the raid as well and saw him and Asuna at the HQ of the KoB. That means they would most likely join. After that I told Crimson that I was going to the raid later this day. He understood I needed to go.

They walked with me to the teleport gate.

"Be safe bro." Crimson said.

"Don't do anything dangerous." Lizbeth said.

I fist bumped with Crimson and took Lizbeth in my arms after that.

"Don't worry about me. I will see you soon." I said before kissing her.

I walked in the teleport gate and looked at them both before teleport myself to the 75th floor.


End file.
